Washington Post Obituary
July 26, 2016
The Long View
July 26, 2016
Frank was born on May 1, 1938 in Los Angeles, California. As a young boy, he went to Cate School in Santa Barbara. He went to Yale University and graduated in 1959 with a BA, majoring in the History of Art and American Studies. He then studied international law at Cambridge University, graduating in 1963 with a M.A. and an LL.B. The next year, in 1964, he received his law degree, his J.D. from Stanford Universtiy.
In 1958, he met Mimi at Sarah Lawrence. And as he liked to say he pursued her across several continents and an ocean or two until they both tied the knot on May 18, 1963. They have been together ever since.
In 1959, he served as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army (1959-60)
Most of his professional life has been in the Washington, D.C. area - from 1966 until his death—except for work as a law associate with Sullivan and Cromwell LLP in New York, NY (1965-66), a foreign service officer in Belgium (1966-69), and an Ouray County Commissioner and management consultant in Ridgway, CO (1993-2002). In his very early career, he was the Managing Director of a British trading company in the Philippines.
He was a foreign Service Officer from 1966 until joining the 1980 Reagan-Bush election campaign. His last State Department position was Deputy U.S. Special Representative for Non-Proliferation.
James Baker, who had been Under Secretary of Commerce when Hodsoll was in the Commerce Department, made Frank staff coordinator for Ronald Reagan’s debate preparation during the 1980 Presidential campaign. After Election Day, Frank worked for the 1980-81 Reagan transition staff, handling staffing matters involving the incoming Administration.
He became the fourth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) from 1981-1989, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Highlights from his time as Chairman include:
- Persuading President Reagan to establish the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and the Congress to enact the National Medal of Arts.
- Establishing new support for arts at the local level: the Local Arts Agencies program, increasing city and county government arts investment through matching grants to both state and local arts agencies.
- NEA leadership grants during this period included start-up support for the Sundance Institute and the American Masters series on Public Television
- Frank's leadership in supporting and advocating for the preservation of film and video earned for the Endowment its first-ever Academy Award, which Hodsoll received on behalf of the Endowment.
- He launched the National Folk Arts Heritage Awards program with the NEA National Heritage Fellows, a program that provided national recognition to folk artists working in virtually every field, from country music to weaving to iron works and more.
- He launched the Jazz Masters Awards, whose recipients have included Miles Davis, the Marsalis Family, Herbie Hancock and Ella Fitzgerald among others.
- Advocated for design excellence in cities through support for the Mayor's Institute on City Design.
- Established a new school-based arts education program.
- And published the landmark report Toward Civilization which called for the arts to be consistent components of the K-12 school curriculum.
After heading the NEA, he became First Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management & Budget in the Executive Office of the President (1989-1993), under OMB Director Richard G. Darman during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
Other federal posts included the White House (Deputy Assistant to President Reagan and Deputy to Chief of Staff to James A. Baker III), State Department, Commerce Department, and Environmental Protection Agency.
And he was a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)
He is survived by his wife Mimi (Margaret) McEwen Hodsoll, an artist; a son, Francis Hodsoll,CEO of SolUnesco; a daughter, Lisa Hodsoll, actress; two grandchildren—all of Northern Virginia— his sister, Monaise MacDonald of Naples, Florida, a nephew John Richards and his wife Wendy,and another nephew Scott Jones and wife Loraine.
He will be sorely missed.