Field Museum chief to retire in 2012

Chicago’s Field Museum has hired an executive search firm to help find a replacement for John McCarter who plans to retire as the institution’s president next year.

McCarter, who became Field Museum president and CEO in 1996, announced his retirement Monday.

During his tenure, McCarter brought Chicagoans Sue, the most complete Tyrannasaurus Rex fossil found, along with exhibits on King Tutankhamen and Jacqueline Kennedy’s clothes.

McCarter also had to deal with a museum hard-hit by the economic downturn. The museum’s endowment shrunk by about $95 million in 2009, and the next year the museum was forced to cut staff.

Although the Field is best known as a museum, the institution employs about 75 Ph.D.s and conducts research on every continent. It also holds about 25 million species in its collection.