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KEVORKIAN PAINTINGS, MEMORABILIA TO BE AUCTIONED
By Mike Martindale The Detroit News
The Detroit News, MI
Sept 30 2011
Southfield - An auction of Jack Kevorkian paintings and memorabilia
planned next month will include the ex-pathologist's trademark golf
hat and baby-blue cardigan sweater - and even one of his Mercitron
assisted suicide machines, his friend and former attorney Mayer
Morganroth said Friday.
Twenty-three oil paintings done by Kevorkian, who died in June at
the age of 83, will be auctioned off in a two-day public event set
for Oct. 27 and 28 at the New York Institute of Technology in New
York City, Morganroth said.
"We were trying to keep this quiet but someone leaked it out,"
Morganroth said Friday from his Southfield offices. "There has always
been a lot of interest in Jack Kevorkian and people involved in this
expect some competitive bidding."
By his own count, Kevorkian assisted in more than 130 deaths of
terminally ill patients. He went to prison on a second-degree murder
conviction and served seven years, nearly dying behind bars from health
ailments. He was paroled in 2007 under conditions which included he
not participate in any more assisted suicides.
Morganroth said 14 of the paintings are currently on display at the
Armenian Library and Museum of America in Boston, where they have
been on display for a dozen years. Some others are in California and
have been hung at homes of friends and relatives.
Many of the oil paintings, which some viewers have found disturbing
because of their graphic nature involving death and dying, have been
displayed at the Arianna Gallery in Royal Oak. The gallery has sold
many Kevorkian prints over the years, Morganroth said.
"And there is Kevorkian art out there we will probably never see,"
Morganroth said. "There were 10 paintings stolen out of a storage
area in California several years ago that have never been found."
Kevorkian's clothing also will go up for bid. Items include cardigan
sweaters, golf hat and a tuxedo he wore to the Emmys when an HBO film
about his life starring Al Pacino was honored.
Those interested can also bid for a bulletproof vest, "which Jack
actually wore for a while," Morganroth said.
Morganroth said Kevorkian's family and friends have been approached
by several auction companies interested in the memorabilia and "felt
the time was right."
A portion of proceeds will go to Kicking Cancer for Kids, a charity.
The majority will go to his only niece, Ava Janus, Morganroth said,
who is supervising the proceedings.
Kevorkian also left behind many scholarly papers and treatises that
are being donated to the University of Michigan, Morganroth said.
"He was truly unique," he said. "I have never met anyone else like
him. He was one of a kind."
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110930/METRO02/109300419/1409/Kevorkian-paintings--memorabilia-to-be-auctioned
By Mike Martindale The Detroit News
The Detroit News, MI
Sept 30 2011
Southfield - An auction of Jack Kevorkian paintings and memorabilia
planned next month will include the ex-pathologist's trademark golf
hat and baby-blue cardigan sweater - and even one of his Mercitron
assisted suicide machines, his friend and former attorney Mayer
Morganroth said Friday.
Twenty-three oil paintings done by Kevorkian, who died in June at
the age of 83, will be auctioned off in a two-day public event set
for Oct. 27 and 28 at the New York Institute of Technology in New
York City, Morganroth said.
"We were trying to keep this quiet but someone leaked it out,"
Morganroth said Friday from his Southfield offices. "There has always
been a lot of interest in Jack Kevorkian and people involved in this
expect some competitive bidding."
By his own count, Kevorkian assisted in more than 130 deaths of
terminally ill patients. He went to prison on a second-degree murder
conviction and served seven years, nearly dying behind bars from health
ailments. He was paroled in 2007 under conditions which included he
not participate in any more assisted suicides.
Morganroth said 14 of the paintings are currently on display at the
Armenian Library and Museum of America in Boston, where they have
been on display for a dozen years. Some others are in California and
have been hung at homes of friends and relatives.
Many of the oil paintings, which some viewers have found disturbing
because of their graphic nature involving death and dying, have been
displayed at the Arianna Gallery in Royal Oak. The gallery has sold
many Kevorkian prints over the years, Morganroth said.
"And there is Kevorkian art out there we will probably never see,"
Morganroth said. "There were 10 paintings stolen out of a storage
area in California several years ago that have never been found."
Kevorkian's clothing also will go up for bid. Items include cardigan
sweaters, golf hat and a tuxedo he wore to the Emmys when an HBO film
about his life starring Al Pacino was honored.
Those interested can also bid for a bulletproof vest, "which Jack
actually wore for a while," Morganroth said.
Morganroth said Kevorkian's family and friends have been approached
by several auction companies interested in the memorabilia and "felt
the time was right."
A portion of proceeds will go to Kicking Cancer for Kids, a charity.
The majority will go to his only niece, Ava Janus, Morganroth said,
who is supervising the proceedings.
Kevorkian also left behind many scholarly papers and treatises that
are being donated to the University of Michigan, Morganroth said.
"He was truly unique," he said. "I have never met anyone else like
him. He was one of a kind."
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110930/METRO02/109300419/1409/Kevorkian-paintings--memorabilia-to-be-auctioned