By: Jay Kt
In the days after September 11, 2001, Jeffrey Loria believed the Roy Lichtenstein sculpture, called “Modern Head,” was gone. The sculpture had been on display in Battery Park City, just one block from the World Trade Center, when the Towers collapsed.
Then it appeared in video footage, still standing amid the devastation.
As FBI agents and investigators worked near Ground Zero, they used the sculpture as a meeting point and message board, leaving notes and communications there as rescue and recovery efforts continued around them.
Years later, the Roy Lichtenstein sculpture would be cleaned, restored, and donated to the Smithsonian in memory of Loria’s late sister. Today, it stands on the grounds of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s main building in Washington, DC.
For Loria, a collector and private art dealer specializing in nineteenth- and twentieth-century masterworks, the sculpture’s journey speaks to something larger: the enduring responsibility of cultural preservation and public access in American modern art.
From “Modern Head” to Museum Collections
Before “Modern Head” was associated with September 11, it already held personal significance for Loria. He had known Roy Lichtenstein since the early 1960s as both a friend and an artist.
When the opportunity came to place the sculpture in a New York City public art display, Loria helped make it happen.
Although the sculpture survived the events on 9/11, seeing it again did not make the tragedy any less painful.
“I know that both Roy and I would have sacrificed it to save one more life that day,” he said.
Over the years, Loria has contributed more than 100 masterworks to museums, cities, and academic institutions.
Those gifts have enhanced collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Pompidou Center, the National Museum of Scotland, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Miami Art Museum, the Israel Museum, and Yale University.
He also gifted Robert Indiana’s iconic “LOVE” sculpture to the University of Pennsylvania.
Art preservation, in Loria’s view, goes beyond repairing damaged pieces. It also means helping important works of art end up in places where more people can see them, study them, and learn from them.
When a painting or sculpture stays in private hands, only a small group of people may ever see it. Once it becomes part of a museum, university, or public space, it can reach students, researchers, scholars, and visitors for decades.
Jeffrey Loria Helps Make Art More Accessible
He also supported major collectors such as Joe Hirshhorn, Norton Simon, and Walter Chrysler, helping them acquire significant works and, in some cases, place them in public institutions.
Loria has observed that many of the most influential collectors were motivated by a desire to share art with others rather than simply own it for themselves.
“These collectors were motivated by their love of art, not any long-term financial gain,” he explained. “They had both deep commitment and a desire to share that commitment and their vision with the world. That combination has led to some remarkable art being placed on public view.”
Loria’s contributions to the arts have also received international recognition. The French government awarded him the Order of Arts and Letters, one of the country’s highest cultural honors, in recognition of his commitment to promoting French culture in the United States.
Yale Sparks a Passion for Art Preservation
Loria’s interest in cultural preservation can be traced back to his time in college. He studied art history at Yale University, home to the Jeffrey H. Loria Center for the History of Art, and later attended the Columbia Graduate School of Business.
One of the classes that left a lasting impression was Greek Architecture, taught by influential art historian Vincent Scully.
“I realized the beauty of what is created and of preserving what is left for future generations so they can understand their history and legacy,” he reflected. “Meeting so many famous artists and seeing the passion and the process behind what they create has also made me deeply appreciative of how artists engage with and represent their vision and view of the world.”
Modern Art became especially important to Loria because of the way artists influenced one another and responded to each other’s work.
“Picasso and Matisse, Picasso and Giacometti, Giacometti and Balthus, Calder and Miro, all were intertwined,” he said.
To Loria, preserving their work means preserving more than the sculpture or painting itself. It also means preserving the ideas, relationships, and creative conversations that have influenced entire artistic movements.
Some of Loria’s most meaningful memories have come from spending time inside artists’ studios, where he watched works move from early ideas to finished pieces.
“They have shared their views of the world, their passion for their work, their humor, and stories about their lives,” he said. “Those relationships have been a rare gift.”
Some of those memories crossed into baseball, one of Loria’s lifelong passions. He once attended a Yankees game with American Abstract Expressionist Clyfford Still, whom he believed may have loved baseball even more than he did.
He also recalls collecting shells and rocks for sculptor Henry Moore, who kept them on his table while studying the different forms created by nature.
Experiences like those taught Loria that preservation is about people as much as objects. Behind every artwork is a web of relationships, influences, and stories worth protecting as well.
Jeffrey Loria Finds Common Ground Between Art and Baseball
A lifelong baseball fan, Jeffrey H. Loria owned the Marlins when the team defeated the Yankees in New York to win the 2003 World Series. The win came during the 100th anniversary year of the World Series, after the young Marlins had fallen to 19-29 earlier in the season.
Loria’s years in baseball did not pull him away from art so much as give him another way to understand it. To him, baseball and art share a number of similarities.
“From my perspective, they are as connected to each other as the desire to communicate is connected to language,” he said. “They are both creative endeavors that celebrate the exceptional. They simply come to the field wearing different uniforms.”
In both fields, success depends on recognizing talent, building relationships, staying committed, and thinking beyond short-term results.
That outlook helped guide his decision to sign Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez after he became a free agent. While others questioned how much time and future success he had left in his career, Loria believed Rodriguez had more great plays in him. Just as important, he believed the Marlins’ young pitchers needed a strong defensive presence behind home plate.
Loria saw a similar devotion in Giancarlo Stanton, who told him he trained at a Los Angeles batting cage after midnight during the offseason, when no one was around, and there were no distractions.
Whether visiting artists in their studios or talking with professional athletes, he has always been impressed by the work that happens behind the scenes.
In baseball, fans see the game. In art, the public sees the finished painting or sculpture. What they usually miss are the years of practice, revision, and effort it took to get there.
“The best artists and the best ballplayers frequently rework with painstaking care the most minor features of their respective crafts,” Loria explained. “They bring the best of themselves to everything that they do, and that’s a good lesson for the rest of us.”
Building a Legacy of Art, Opportunity, and Access
Beyond collecting, Jeffrey Loria has supported educational, cultural, and medical institutions, including the endowment of the Loria Center for the History of Art at Yale and the Loria Wing at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, New York.
He has also served as co-chair of the ALS Association Greater New York, helping raise millions for ALS and blood cancer research. In 2023, ALS United Greater New York presented him with its Champion Award.
Even with these public roles, the work he values most takes place privately.
“I like quiet philanthropy,” he said. “I often think you can have a more lasting impact by working behind the scenes.”
For Loria, legacy is not just what someone owns, builds, or wins. It is what their choices make possible for other people.
“Legacy is what you leave for others,” he said. “If my legacy is seeing the promise in people and providing them with the opportunity to make that promise great, I will have quite a professional legacy. But my family and dear friends will always be my greatest legacy.”
Whether it’s supporting an artist, believing in a ballplayer, or bringing art into public view, Loria’s work revolves around recognizing potential and helping it grow.
