Sunday, February 02, 2025

A Fitting Memorial for Abe Hays A Passionate Collector and Driving Force Behind The Scottsdale Museum of the West

 February 2, 2025

   A good friend of the West passed on January 22 and his family gathered yesterday in Scottsdale to say goodbye and pay their respects. I am proud to say I was asked to join them. All three of his children spoke and told wonderful stories about their father and then his daughter, Elizabeth read a statement from Michael Fox, the original director of The Scottsdale Museum of The West.

Abe Hays

   "As Sandy and Jim [Bruner] have so genuinely and accurately expressed, truly, there was only one Abe in all the history of the very American West which he so passionately and knowledgeably loved as he did the development and maturation of Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. He was our region’s transplant iconic scholar, marketeer, and storyteller about the West no less respected and admired than Midwesterner John Wayne was by becoming the most recognized Westerner in his portrayal of the American cowboy. 

   "Beginning as a corporate writer and communicator early in his career within Rockefeller Center in New York, Abe became enamored with the American West’s history and artists’ depiction of it which ultimately led to his collecting, selling, and gifting to SMoW the works of diverse artists who like himself, studied and celebrated the myths and legends of the region. His exquisite family collection featured in the museum meets his goal and the museum’s mission to help our visitors gain greater appreciation, understanding, and respect for the West. I am indebted to Abe as are Sandy, Jim, and many others for all ways he represented and supported the purpose and value of the museum from its conceptualization. There was no other founder of our community-owned institution with any greater vision and conviction for it to benefit both present and future generations.

   "I salute Abe for his friendship, scholarship, and generosity shared with endless others, and with a chuckle I say he will be loudly heard while most welcomed in the heavens! May he deservingly be now experiencing eternal Peace and pride." 

Respectfully, 

Mike and Jean Fox


 


No comments:

Post a Comment

Post your comments