Mark Rothko to be Exhumed and Reburied

On February 25, 1970, artist Mark Rothko committed suicide.  He was then buried in a plot owned by fellow painter, Theodoros Stamos.

The following developments regarding Rothko’s remains were reported in Kathryn Shattuck, 38 Years After Artist’s Suicide, His Remains Are on the Move, NY Times, April 16, 2008:

A state judge has allowed the daughter and son of the artist Mark Rothko to have his body disinterred from a Long Island cemetery and reburied in a Jewish cemetery in Westchester County over the objections of some Long Island residents.

Justice Arthur G. Pitts of State Supreme Court in Riverhead agreed to allow Mr. Rothko’s daughter, Dr. Kate Rothko Prizel, and son, Dr. Christopher Rothko, to remove the remains of their father from the East Marion Cemetery on the North Fork of Long Island. * * *

To remove their father’s remains, Dr. Prizel and Dr. Rothko needed the consent of the East Marion Cemetery Association and Georgianna Savas, the executor of the estate of the painter Theodoros Stamos, who owned the plot.

In March 2007, the cemetery association voted to allow the exhumation; Nancy Poole, the association’s secretary-treasurer, cast the sole dissenting vote. The board members nonetheless decided to require Dr. Prizel and Dr. Rothko to obtain a court order to protect the association against possible community opposition.

The Rothko estate was also the subject of considerable litigation in the 1970s:

The executors were accused of selling or consigning paintings to the Marlborough at less than market value while collecting exorbitant commissions and dividing the proceeds. In 1975, the men were found guilty of negligence and conflict of interest, removed as executors and fined, along with the gallery, $9.2 million.

Special thanks to Adam J. Hirsch (William and Catherine VanDercreek Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law) for bringing this development to my attention.