MOCA honors longtime MOCA Trustee and Life Trustee Betye Monell Burton (1923-2025) who passed away earlier today.
Burton was a vital force and crucial leader in MOCA’s initial founding and early formation. A member of the original Mayor’s Museum Advisory Committee, she joined MOCA’s Board of Trustees in 1980 and served with distinction for twelve years, later being elected as a Life Trustee in 1994, and remaining a steadfast supporter and friend. She brought thoughtful and strategic leadership to numerous committees and was a champion of MOCA’s support councils.
In memory of her husband, she established the Gene J. Burton Acquisitions Endowment, a lasting contribution to MOCA’s collection-building efforts. In March 2026, a gallery at MOCA Grand Avenue will be dedicated to works purchased with the fund including artworks by Lee Bontecou, John Cage, Kahlil Robert Irving, Nancy Rubins, Hannah Wilke, among others and is organized by Senior Curator Anna Katz.
Burton’s civic engagement extended well beyond MOCA. She was active in the Pasadena Art Alliance and the former Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, and was a founding member of the Fellows of Contemporary Art (FOCA). She was also on the Board of Governors of Caltech’s Baxter Art Gallery, bridging the arts and scientific institutions.
In 2019, MOCA honored her with our Women in the Arts Award, recognizing her decades of dedication to the museum and to the broader arts community. We are privileged that her daughter, Sigrid Burton, continues her legacy as a member of our Drawings and Photography Committee.
MOCA honors this remarkable legacy and is deeply grateful to Burton for her foundational role in the formation of the museum and her continued, unflagging efforts to ensure that it thrived. Our thoughts are with her family as we remember her beautifully long life, so well lived.
The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The Gene J. and Betye M. Burton Acquisitions Endowment at MOCA or the Westridge School.
Image: Portrait of Betye Monell Burton by Wayne Shimabukuro