Patron Morgan Williams, the owner of the largest collection of works of art about the Holodomor, has passed away

The president of the American-Ukrainian Business Council (USUBC), a great friend of Ukraine, philanthropist Morgan Williams, passed away at his home in California on June 8. He was 84 years old.

An American by passport, he was a great patriot of Ukraine. He did a lot for the international economic and business development of our country, attracting investments to the Ukrainian economy. He was also a sincere promoter of Ukrainian culture and history abroad.

In the early 1990s, Mr Williams took care of agricultural issues in Ukraine and learned about the Holodomor of 1932-1933. And when he met Holodomor researcher James Mace, he discovered even more details about the terrible and impressive history of a foreign people. He was so captivated by this that he started collecting paintings on the topic of the Holodomor. It turned out that there are not so many works of art about this: Ukrainian artists in the 1990s were still afraid to address this issue. Then, he began to encourage Ukrainian artists to do so. Painting after painting, a collection began to emerge, which Morgan Williams himself called “Canvas that never existed”. Similarly to the Holodomor, which the world community did not acknowledge, for a long time, because the Soviet Union kept silent and concealed the truth about it.

This collection has been repeatedly exhibited in Ukraine and the world, telling the truth about the genocide of Ukrainians in the language of painting. “It’s very, very important to tell this tragedy visually, because pictures are worth a thousand words,” emphasised Morgan Williams.

We also had the honour of receiving exhibits from this collection in our museum. In 2018 an exhibition of posters was exhibited. Last year, the triptych “Genocide 1933” by Kyiv artists Taras and Yurii Honcharenko was exhibited in the Hall of Memory, which aroused the constant interest of visitors. Thank you for the opportunity to see and show these exhibits in our museum…

We will always remember with respect and gratitude Mr Morgan Williams and the efforts he made to make the world more aware of the tragedy of Ukrainians in 1932-1933. And we will remember him as a reliable friend of Ukraine, whose sincere heart always responded to someone else’s pain.

“Our father loved Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We are comforted to know that he will be missed by so many members of the community. Glory to Ukraine!” wrote Daren Williams, son of Mr. Morgan.

Our sincere condolences to the large family of Morgan Williams – his wife, four children, ten grandchildren, three great-grandchildren – and to all who knew and respected the deceased. This is a great loss for all of us and Ukraine.

Eternal memory!