He had suffered from a brain tumor for about eight months and died Sunday morning at Belmont Village, a senior living facility in Los Angeles, said his daughter, Victoria Shegoian. Hopkins, who achieved national prominence as director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from 1974 to 1986, got his professional start at the University of California, Los Angeles and returned there in later years. 'He was a genteel, highly intelligent and discerning man,' said Christopher Waterman, dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. 'No one had more to do with establishing the very high quality of the visual art programs at our university, including the academic programs and the Hammer Museum. He chaired the art department from 1991 to 1994 and ran the Wight Art Gallery, and later became the first director of the Hammer Museum.' After the death of oil man and museum founder Armand Hammer, Hopkins helped the university negotiate a complicated contract that put the university in charge of the museum's management and programs, Waterman said. 'He stepped down in '98, but he paved the way for what Ann Philbin has been able to do,' he said, referring to Hopkins' successor, who has transformed the Hammer into a high-profile exhibition center for contemporary art. Stephanie Barron, senior curator of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said Hopkins' death was 'the loss of one of the great advocates in the world for Southern California art.' He and Barron joined forces last year in a $1-million campaign to purchase 'The Illegal Operation,' a controversial work by Edward Kienholz, for the museum. 'We pitched everyone we knew and were committed making it happen,' she said. 'I'm so glad he was able to see it come to pass.' Hopkins also encouraged the Getty Research Institute to develop programs about the history of Southern California art, including a series of exhibitions planned throughout the region in 2011. (Begin optional trim) In what was probably his last public appearance -- the recent 85th birthday party of fine art publisher Sidney Felsen -- Hopkins stood in the courtyard of a West Hollywood restaurant, his walker off to the side, greeting friends as if in perfect health. To those who told him how well he looked, he responded that the trouble inside his body didn't show on the outside. Born Aug. 14, 1928, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, he was the son of agronomist Talcott Thompson Hopkins and his wife, Zoe. Henry frequently accompanied his father on business trips but didn't drift far from home until he had completed three years of study at the College of Idaho in Caldwell, where he majored in psychology. 'Trying to find out about myself, I suppose,' he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1998 interview. 'I had been painting since I was 6 or 7 years old, but in a small town like Idaho Falls, doing art was not something you talked very much about. You talked about football and basketball and potatoes. Art just grew naturally with me, but I always had the support of my parents.' On the advice of the college's art department chairman, Hopkins transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949. He received a bachelor's degree in 1952 and was drafted into military service. Stationed in Germany and trained as a photographer, he made the most of opportunities to visit European museums. He returned to the Art Institute in 1954, receiving a master's degree the following year. In 1957, he came to Los Angeles to do graduate work in painting and art history at UCLA. But he soon became enchanted with the city's growing art scene. 'The turning point came when I approached Fred Wight about doing an exhibition as part of my dissertation,' Hopkins said, referring to his mentor. 'He had grudgingly accepted the fact that I was working on Southern California art history and agreed that I could do an exhibition at UCLA. It was called something like `50 Paintings by 35 Artists' and included people like Edward Kienholz, Robert Irwin, Billy Al Bengston, Craig Kaufman, Ed Moses, who continued to prosper in later years. 'The art world was a lot smaller in those days,' Hopkins said, 'but in 1960-61 the show traveled to five quite respectable museums, so I guess I had established some little niche in the field.' (End optional trim) His museum career began in 1961, when he became an assistant curator and educator at the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art. He remained on staff for seven years, as the art branch of the institution evolved into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Hopkins moved into administration in 1968, heading the Fort Worth Art Museum for six years before stepping up to an eight-year tenure as a director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Enticed back to Los Angeles in 1986 by Frederick R. Weisman, Hopkins led the collector's art foundation for five years before moving on to UCLA. In his final years, he introduced himself as a painter in exhibitions at Los Angeles galleries including Louis Stern Fine Arts. In addition to his daughter, who lives in San Francisco, Hopkins is survived by sons John Thomas Hopkins of Oceanside and Christopher Tyler Hopkins of Miles City, Mont.; five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and his brother Timothy of Idaho Falls. 