President of Wharton Estate Resigns

The president and chief executive of the financially troubled estate of author Edith Wharton has stepped down rather than assume a different position in a restructured management hierarchy, trustees announced Sunday.

The five-member board of trustees at The Mount in Lenox said in a statement that they have accepted the resignation of Stephanie Copeland "with regret."

The organization that owns the estate, Edith Wharton Restoration, has borrowed $4.3 million for operating costs, but in January missed a $30,000 payment, prompting a bank to start foreclosure proceedings.

The estate made the payment with a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, but it still trying to raise $3 million. So far about $570,000 has been raised, trustee Gordon Travers said Sunday.

An anonymous donor has promised another $3 million over five years if the fundraising goal is reached.

"Right now, we're month to month," he said.

The board determined that the future of The Mount lay in restructuring management.

"We concluded that if we made it through this fundraising campaign, if we had a future, we needed to separate finance and administration from the creative side," Travers said.

Copeland had essentially been fulfilling both tasks, but under the restructuring was offered the position of creative leader, which she rejected, the trustees said in a statement.

Attempts to locate a phone number for Copeland were not immediately successful.

Copeland, who came on board in 1993, is credited with the beautification of the estate, which was dilapidated when she took over. During her tenure, $13 million was invested in the buildings and grounds, the number of visitors tripled and revenues increased six-fold.

She also initiated artistic endeavors, including the Monday Lecture Series and the Selected Shorts at The Mount radio show on NPR.

Wharton designed and built the 35-room house in 1902. It was while living at The Mount that she finished her breakthrough novel, "The House of Mirth," and got the inspiration for "Ethan Frome."

Wharton lived there until 1910, when her marriage collapsed and she moved to France. The house was privately owned until 1942, when it was sold to a boarding school, which sold it to a developer in 1977. In 1980, the property was purchased by Edith Wharton Restoration.

The estate gets 30,000 visitors annually.

___

On the Web: The Mount, http://www.edithwharton.org