Art Historian Marica Vilcek, Co-Founder of Immigrant-Focused Foundation, Dies at 89

Marica Vilcek, an art historian who co-founded the Vilcek Foundation with her husband Jan, passed away at age 89 in New York. The foundation, established in 2000, provides grants to immigrant professionals in art history and biomedical science. Born in Bratislava in 1936, Vilcek studied art history in Czechoslovakia before defecting with her husband in 1964. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 32 years and later served as a consultant to various cultural institutions. The foundation has awarded prizes to numerous immigrant artists and scholars, including Carmen C. Bambach and Guadalupe Maravilla.