Och and Rockefeller vanish from MoMA trustee page; Leon Black does not
The quiet board-page update comes as MoMA continues to list Leon Black, whose ties to Epstein have drawn years of pressure.
Labor and Capital
Daniel S. Och and Sharon Percy Rockefeller are no longer listed as trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, according to the museum’s current board roster, marking a quiet change on one of the most powerful museum boards in the country.
Leon D. Black, the former MoMA board chair whose ties to Jeffrey Epstein have drawn years of criticism from artists and activists, remains listed as a trustee.
The museum’s officers and trustees page, which says it was updated in January 2026, lists more than 50 current trustees, along with life trustees, honorary trustees and ex-officio members.
Och and Rockefeller, who was also listed as president of the museum’s International Council, do not appear on the current list. The change was detected Thursday by software Urgent Matter uses to monitor websites and was confirmed on MoMA’s current officers and trustees page.
Och is a financier and philanthropist best known as the founder of Och-Ziff Capital Management. Rockefeller is a longtime public broadcasting executive and arts patron who has served as president and chief executive of WETA, the Washington public media station.
The circumstances of the change were not immediately clear. Urgent Matter has reached out to MoMA for comment on when Och and Rockefeller left the board and the circumstances of their departures.
MoMA’s current roster lists Marie-Josée Kravis as chair, Sarah Arison as president and Christophe Cherix as director. David Rockefeller Jr. is listed as the museum’s sole life trustee.
The roster change comes during a period of leadership transition at MoMA. Cherix became the museum’s director in 2025, succeeding Glenn D. Lowry, who led the museum for three decades.
The change leaves Black among MoMA’s current trustees even after years of public pressure over his relationship with Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Black stepped down as MoMA board chair in 2021 after scrutiny of his payments to Epstein and calls from artists for the museum to cut ties with him, but he remained on the board.
MoMA previously did not return a request for comment in February regarding Black’s status on the board amid continued fallout from the U.S. Justice Department’s release of Epstein documents.
Leon Black faced sexual abuse claims, Epstein files show
Investigative correspondence, diary excerpts, and internal assessments appear in newly released Epstein case files.
Adam Schrader
Urgent Matter previously reported in February that Black was referenced in the newly released case files, which described sexual abuse allegations raised against Black by at least three potential victims after Epstein’s death.
The files included investigative correspondence, diary excerpts and internal assessments, though prosecutors and investigators also noted evidentiary hurdles, jurisdictional limits and statute-of-limitations issues.
Black has denied allegations of sexual abuse. He has previously said his payments to Epstein were for tax, estate and philanthropic planning services.
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