Our KNX Heroes of the Week, Laura Ornest and her husband, Rick Leslie, are honoring Laura’s brother, Maury, and his incredible talent, while uplifting victims of the Palisades and Eaton Fires.
Laura says her brother, Maury, was a Beverly Hills high school graduate, a UC Santa Barbara standout, and a Milwaukee Brewers minor league baseball player.
After he passed away from heart disease after years of battling mental illness, Laura and Rick discovered that secretly created more than 1,400 paintings and sketches while battling mental illness. Laura said they had no idea the amount of work he had in his collection until after he had passed.
“He was a generous and kind soul,” she told Heroes host Heather Jordan. “His illness of schizoaffective disorder often masked his generosity and kindness, but through his art, he transformed his negative, fearful thoughts and his paranoia and delusional thinking into positive, life-affirming, and hopeful possibilities. The paintings are vibrant and joyous and hopeful and whimsical, and that's who Maury was before he got sick.”
Laura and her family are now sharing Maury's story and his incredible pieces of work, with proceeds from every painting going to a local charity.
“Every painting that is bought, the funds go directly to a nonprofit,” she said. “Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, UCLA Friends of the Semel [Institute], other local nonprofits.”
Laura is also donating a free piece of artwork to families who lost their homes in the recent fires.
“Maury left so much behind it turned out to be a gift, and if we can give a little gift that might bring some lightness and hope and sense of rebuilding and renewal to victims of the fire,” she said. “It really would be our privilege.”
There are more than 700 paintings still available. You can check out Maury’s art here.
Check out all our KNX Heroes here.
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