and Picturing America, which used great American art to teach the nation's history and culture in 80,000 schools and public libraries nationwide. Cole also encouraged the expansion of support for digital projects by NEH, including grants specified for "digital humanities." Additionally, under his tenure, the NEH developed partnerships with several foreign countries, including Mexico and China. After NEH After leaving the NEH, Cole served as president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, until 2011. In August 2013, President Obama appointed Cole to the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, which was tasked with overseeing the creation of the National Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. Cole had previously criticized the selected design by Frank Gehry in articles and congressional testimony. Cole served on the board of advisors for the National Civic Art Society, which supports classical architecture and remained a critic of Gehry's memorial design. Personal life and death Cole and his wife Doreen (née Luff) lived in Virginia and had a son, Ryan and a daughter, Stephanie Whittaker. Cole died in Cancún, Mexico on January 8, 2018. Boards and honors Cole served on many boards, including American Heritage Society, the Jack Miller Center, the Villa Firenze Foundation, and the National Civic Art Society. In 2010, Cole was appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels to Indiana University's Board of Trustees. Previously, Cole served on the U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the board of the Woodrow Wilson Center, and held a Senate-appointed position on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. In November 2008, President Bush awarded Cole the Presidential Citizens Medal "for his work to strengthen our national memory and ensure that our country's heritage is passed on to future generations." The medal is one of the highest honors the President can confer upon a civilian, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Earlier in 2008, Cole was decorated as a Knight of the Grand Cross, the highest honor in the Republic of Italy. Selected written works Giotto and Florentine Painting, 1280-1375. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. Agnolo Gaddi. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977. Masaccio and the Art of Early Renaissance Florence. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. Sienese Painting: From Its Origins to the Fifteenth Century. New York: Harper & Row, 1980. The Renaissance Artist at Work: From Pisano to Titian. New York: Harper & Row, 1983. Sienese