By: Serach Nissim

Donors for an East Hamptons Sculpture garden are rethinking their generous donations following changes in the board’s members.

As reported by the NY Post, longtime executive director Matko Tomicic was suddenly terminated from the Longhouse Reserve and the board was reconfigured, just a few months after the passing of the nonprofit’s founder, Jack Lenor Larsen. The shifts in leadership have upset longtime donors. “They’re pulling their funds,” said Jane Johnson, a Hamptons-based artist and donor, who contributes to the park through a family foundation. “People are calling their lawyers and changing their wills until this board resigns.”

Another donor, who has been contributing to LongHouse for about ten years, is asking for answers. “A number of donors are concerned and dismayed by the direction of this board,” said Susie Gelman. “There seems to be a real lack of transparency.”

Last month, the controversy gained steam after the nonprofit board which runs LongHouse mysteriously and swiftly fired Tomicic, who had overseen the park as the executive director for close to 26 years. Donors told the Post, that Tomicic had worked closely together with Larsen, who had been an internationally acclaimed textile designer and who created LongHouse on his 16-acre Hamptons property. Larsen, who passed away in December at the age 93, had opened the remarkable garden up to the public in 1992. The garden includes sculptures by artists including Willem de Kooning, Yoko Ono and glass artist Dale Chihuly. Its setting was inspired by a 7th-century Japanese Shinto shrine.

“I don’t know why he (Tomicic) was summarily fired,” said Anne Roos, a longtime donor who is also reconsidering her support for the organization. The nonprofit yielded over 85 percent of its $1.9 million total revenue from contributions and grants in 2019, as per LongHouse’s most recent federal tax filing. Larsen himself also left a trust to continue funding LongHouse after his death.

Tomicic did not respond to the Post’s request for comment Friday, but previously had told the Sag Harbor Express that the termination agreement he signed prevents him from speaking publicly about it.

Tomicic and the board “agreed to part ways” last month as a result of a “strategic planning process” which began before Larsen’s death, said board co-presidents Nina Gillman and Dianne Benson.

“There is a small group who are close to our former director and we are trying to address their concerns,” the LongHouse board said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the loudest voices are sometimes negative. We have also heard from many members of our community positively expressing their continued support for LongHouse.”