Metropolitan Museum Curator Walter Liedtke Dies in Train Crash

Walter Liedtke, a curator of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was among six fatalities in a Metro-North train collision with an S.U.V. in Valhalla, New York. The art historian, who earned a PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and a master's from Brown University, authored seven books and many articles. Metropolitan Museum director Thomas P. Campbell informed staff via email about Liedtke's likely death in the first car of the train, expressing shock and extending thoughts to his wife Nancy and family. Liedtke had joined the museum in 1979 after his academic pursuits.