A Getty model

It was nice of Christopher Knight to include me (and the rest of the public) along with himself as a “stakeholder” in the Getty [“Yes, You Can Be Too Rich,” June 5], but he failed to make a case for having an “art expert” run a $6-billion enterprise.

From my own observation, art experts belong to one of the most fractious groups in our society. Which one, then, would Mr. Knight approve? Possibly one that would carry out his own, oft-expressed goal for the Getty -- spend those billions buying masterpieces to turn the Getty into another Met-like mausoleum.

In a virtual world where the tools and purposes of art seem to be changing faster than we can follow, we could do a lot worse than to return to Harold Williams’ broad vision, which included delegating functions to art experts and charted a much more dynamic and exciting role for the Getty, until it was so rudely derailed by the Munitz disaster.

MARSHALL LUMSDEN

Malibu