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Detroit Free Press, MI
Oct 22 2011
Attorney: Give back paintings by Kevorkian
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
The estate of Jack Kevorkian sued a Boston-area museum in Oakland
County Circuit Court on Friday, demanding the return of 17 paintings
the estate wants to sell at an auction next week in New York City.
"They're playing games," Birmingham attorney Mayer Morganroth said
Friday after filing the suit. He said the paintings, many of them
depicting death and dying, have been appraised for up to $3.5 million.
Morganroth, Kevorkian's longtime attorney and the personal
representative of his estate, said in the suit that Kevorkian loaned
the paintings to the Armenian Library and Museum of America for a 1999
exhibition and decided to leave them there while he was serving a
prison sentence for assisting in the 1998 death of a Michigan man.
Morganroth said the museum "kidnapped" the paintings and won't give them back.
There was no immediate comment from the museum or its lawyer, Harold
Potter, who filed a lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court in
Massachusetts on Oct. 13, saying Kevorkian had given the artwork to
the museum.
That suit said Kevorkian's sister, Flora Holzheimer, attended the 1999
exhibit and announced that Kevorkian was donating the artwork.
The museum said it went to a lot of effort and expense to maintain the
collection over the ensuing 12 years.
It said Kevorkian attended a second exhibition of the paintings in
2008 and publicly stated that he had donated the paintings to the
museum.
"It's all baloney," Morganroth said, adding that the paintings belong
to the estate.
He said Kevorkian left his estate to his niece Ava Janus of Troy. The
paintings were to be auctioned Oct. 27-28 at the New York Institute of
Technology with more than 100 other items, including the machine that
Kevorkian used in more than 100 assisted deaths.
The museum, founded in 1971, says it is a major repository of examples
of the creative endeavors of Armenian people. Kevorkian was of
Armenian descent. He died in June at 83.
http://www.freep.com/article/20111022/NEWS06/110220403
Oct 22 2011
Attorney: Give back paintings by Kevorkian
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
The estate of Jack Kevorkian sued a Boston-area museum in Oakland
County Circuit Court on Friday, demanding the return of 17 paintings
the estate wants to sell at an auction next week in New York City.
"They're playing games," Birmingham attorney Mayer Morganroth said
Friday after filing the suit. He said the paintings, many of them
depicting death and dying, have been appraised for up to $3.5 million.
Morganroth, Kevorkian's longtime attorney and the personal
representative of his estate, said in the suit that Kevorkian loaned
the paintings to the Armenian Library and Museum of America for a 1999
exhibition and decided to leave them there while he was serving a
prison sentence for assisting in the 1998 death of a Michigan man.
Morganroth said the museum "kidnapped" the paintings and won't give them back.
There was no immediate comment from the museum or its lawyer, Harold
Potter, who filed a lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court in
Massachusetts on Oct. 13, saying Kevorkian had given the artwork to
the museum.
That suit said Kevorkian's sister, Flora Holzheimer, attended the 1999
exhibit and announced that Kevorkian was donating the artwork.
The museum said it went to a lot of effort and expense to maintain the
collection over the ensuing 12 years.
It said Kevorkian attended a second exhibition of the paintings in
2008 and publicly stated that he had donated the paintings to the
museum.
"It's all baloney," Morganroth said, adding that the paintings belong
to the estate.
He said Kevorkian left his estate to his niece Ava Janus of Troy. The
paintings were to be auctioned Oct. 27-28 at the New York Institute of
Technology with more than 100 other items, including the machine that
Kevorkian used in more than 100 assisted deaths.
The museum, founded in 1971, says it is a major repository of examples
of the creative endeavors of Armenian people. Kevorkian was of
Armenian descent. He died in June at 83.
http://www.freep.com/article/20111022/NEWS06/110220403