Tributes and Comments

about

Cindy Sherrell Leo

When I was a relative youngster just emerged as a museum professional but not fully
formed, Cindy was already a legend. She taught me that one could encourage others, do the
right things, and still have their own strong opinions (all the better expressed in Texan). Her
leadership inspired lots of other museum people in our region and beyond, while her notions of
what it takes to begin a museum have helped many organizations to start up or improve
their operations, and some (wisely) to find other ways besides a museum to accomplish their
goals. In all those ways, she lives on as a great MPMAer!
Arthur H. Wolf, Principal, WOLF Consulting, Las Vegas, NV

Cindy was many things to many people; mostly she was a true mentor to those new to the
profession and she was always available to help museum folks any way she could. No job was
too big or too small for her to tackle. She worked hard to better small museums and make
sure staff members or volunteers had a network of other professionals and volunteers to ward
off the isolation most small museums experience. But her true gift was her ability to know
who to ask to serve on committees or who to ask to do workshops or speak at conferences. She
just knew who had good ideas and who would follow through and get things done. Her ability
to put the right people together to accomplish something terrific is unsurpassed.

Kit Neumann