remembering C.L. MOREHEAD
Mrs. M. Smith "Smitty" Griffith and C.L. Morehead Jr. at Elegant Salute X, in 2009. Photo by Zoomworks.
Coatus Lee Morehead,
known to all as “C.L.,” died on July 18, 2020. With his leaving us, a chapter in the Georgia Museum of Art’s history closed as another opened. A gentle man, a friend to all, C.L.’s generosity to the museum, to the State
well as institutions, and he was particularly proud of his “godchildren,” those students he helped with tuition, boarding and jobs and his longtime and faithful employees at Flowers, Inc., his shop in Athens. A wing at the museum is named in honor of C.L. It is a series of adjoining galleries where we feature temporary exhibitions — fittingly where we exhibit borrowed exhibitions or those we organize ourselves. C.L. was proud of this space, because he knew that generations of students as well as the general public would benefit for years from his kindnesses. Because of his friendship with and admiration for Lamar Dodd, the museum will receive, as a promised gift, a large collection of Dodd’s paintings and drawings. Thus, one of the university’s major donors married his name to one of the university’s most important visual artists, advocates and administrators. C.L. was a gentle man. His legacy as patron and friend is intertwined in the history of the museum, and for that, for his benevolent and ever-present philanthropy, his memory and his legacy are forever enshrined in these walls.
Botanical Garden and to the University of Georgia is well known. What is perhaps not so evident, because C.L. was reticent to discuss it and preferred a certain anonymity, was his assistance to students at UGA, especially those from central Georgia, specifically from Irwinton, Ocilla or
Ann Scoggins and C.L. Morehead Jr. at Elegant Salute X, in 2009. Photo by Zoomworks.
Fitzgerald, those places near to his heart and from whence he came to Athens, first as a college student and later as a successful businessman. He developed a devotion to the University of Georgia and especially to its football team, rarely missing a home game. He also loved flowers — all flowers — as well as art. Loyal to a fault, C.L. was also generous to individuals as
WilliamUnderwood Eiland, Director
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