Arcadia University is mourning the July 4 passing of Dorothy (Herzka) Lichtenstein, a renowned philanthropist and 1963 graduate of Beaver College (now Arcadia University). She was 84.

According to Arcadia officials, Lichtenstein personally funded the transportation of the France-based Pati Hill Collection to the university’s campus in Glenside, where it resides today.

“Without her generosity, it is hard to say what might have happened to these historically significant materials,” Arcadia University said in a Facebook post.

Lichtenstein was the widow of Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and the cofounder of his NYC-based foundation, which “primarily to facilitate public access to the work of Roy Lichtenstein and the art and artists of his time; to create a catalogue raisonné of all known Lichtenstein works; and to share information which could assist the development and education of the next generations of curators, critics and scholars concerning the artist Roy Lichtenstein,” according to its website.

“I like the idea of handing it off, and seeing what the future brings,” she told the New York Times in 2018, referring her late husband’s collection. “Every 10 years I say, ‘How about winding it up in the next 10 years?’ I don’t want to leave things up in the air.”

“To us, and a great many others, Dorothy was a powerful model of how to be in the world. She was kind and deeply empathic, always doing ‘the next right thing’ and treating others with patience, love and tolerance,” her obituary said. “Maximally generous and well informed about the many causes she supported, she extended her benevolence to family, friends, colleagues and employees, sharing her good fortune with all.”

A brief video featuring Lichtenstein viewing a display of her late husband’s work at the Art Institute of Chicago is below:

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Photo: stonybrook.edu