Art benefactor quits after feud

The American billionaire who escaped a drugs conviction in New Zealand reportedly made a failed attempt to force the director of the influential New York-based Guggenheim art foundation to resign.

The latest issue of Vanity Fair says Peter Lewis, who was charged with importing cannabis into Auckland during the America's Cup in 2000, gave an estimated $77 million to the foundation before demanding director Thomas Krens' resignation in January this year.

Mr Lewis, who was board chairman, was convinced his one-time friend Mr Krens was pushing the Guggenheim towards financial ruin by planning new museums around the world.

But other board members rejected his calls for Mr Krens to be fired, prompting Mr Lewis to resign after 12 years on the board - depriving the Guggenheim of its most generous trustee.

According to Vanity Fair, the 71-year-old donated nearly four times more than any trustee in the Guggenheim's almost 70-year history.

And art is not the only cause that has benefited from Mr Lewis' estimated $1.7 billion fortune.

Described in the magazine as "an avid advocate of decriminalising marijuana," he reportedly gave $5 million to an American Civil Liberties Union project challenging medical-marijuana restrictions and school drug testing.

He was quoted as calling harsh drug legislation "racism at its zenith".

Lewis escaped a New Zealand cannabis conviction by giving $53,000 to a local drug rehabilitation centre. The Herald fought for eight months to overturn a court order granting him name suppression.

Mr Lewis is the son of the founder of Progressive Corporation, now the third-biggest vehicle insurer in the United States.

Not all his money goes on others. He poured $16.5 million into the converted tugboat he brought to the America's Cup. He also paid architect Frank Gehry $80 million to design him a house that was never built.