The longest-serving trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is being remembered as a visionary. Dr. Scott Inkley passed away this month at age 97. He began volunteering at the museum in 1933, and joined the board of trustees in 1951.
Harvey Webster is the museum’s Chief Wildlife Officer. He says Inkley’s leadership helped steward the museum through some difficult financial times while still expanding its areas for collections and travelling exhibits. Webster says Inkley last visited over spring break, earlier this year.
“And he was just blown away by the number of families and the number of kids and students. And the excitement and the engagement that was taking place in the museum galleries. [He] basically said, ‘that is what a museum is supposed to do. That is what it’s supposed to be. It’s creating those opportunities just like the ones I had.’”
Dr. Inkley previously served as CEO at University Hospitals and as mayor of the Village of Hunting Valley. No memorial has been announced yet, but Webster says the family might hold a remembrance at the museum.
