ST. PETERSBURG, FL.- Seymour Gordon, President of the MFA’s Board of Trustees, has announced that Dr. Kent Lydecker will be the new director. He will begin his duties October 12 and replaces Dr. John Schloder, who retired in July after more than nine years at the helm. Dr. Lydecker, who led the education department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for 18 years, will be only the fifth director in the Museum’s 45-year history. According to Mr. Gordon, “the search for a new director was narrowed to five excellent candidates with national and international prominence. The search committee was especially impressed with Dr. Lydecker’s extensive experience at the Metropolitan, and before that, at The Art Institute of Chicago and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. These are three of the world’s great museums. His educational background and scholarship are equally accomplished. The search committee also believed