Born in 1931, in New York City, NY, Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving (who held a Ph.D from Princeton University) was appointed by John V. Lindsay to serve as the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
He left the Met in 1966 to become New York mayor John V. Lindsay's parks commissioner, but in 1967 returned to the Met as director after the incumbent, James J. Rorimer, died suddenly on March 11, 1966. He assumed the directorship on March 17, 1967 and presided over a massive expansion and renovation of the museum, adding many important collections to its holdings. 
