SAN DIEGO - Jeffrey Kirsch will retire on June 30 after three decades as executive director of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and be replaced by an executive with The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the museum announced today. Since Kirsch arrived in 1983, the science center doubled in size and its membership quintupled, according to the science center.

Kirsch will be a consultant for an IMAX film on the Panama Canal, which is now in the planning stages, the museum said. The producers hope to have the movie premiere in 2015, during the centennial of the science center's home, Balboa Park.

Kirsch's successor will be Steven Snyder, the vice president of exhibit and program development at The Franklin Institute, where he also was director of strategic planning.

Snyder, previously associated with the Kansas City Museum/Science City, was hired after a nationwide search, according to the science center.