Patricia Hill Burnett
Patricia Hill Burnett, a noted women's rights advocate and artist who painted portraits of such notables as Betty Ford, Indira Gandhi, Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Thatcher and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, died Monday at her Bloomfield Hills home, the Detroit Free Press reports. She was 94.
Special writer Emma Ockerman writes in the Detroit Free Press that Burnett died from a sudden illness. Her daughter Terri Hill Burnett said she continued painting up until six months ago and flirted with doctors and nurses until the end.
Burnett moved to Detroit when her mother married a doctor at Henry Ford Hospital, the paper reported.
Besides national and international figures, she painted portraits of such folks as former Michigan Governors William Milliken and John Engler.
"A pioneering activist in addition to being a gifted artist, Ms. Burnett was committed to equality and breaking barriers at both the state and national levels," Dave Murray, spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said in an e-mail, according to the Freep. "Her work should be an inspiration to many Michiganders, and she leaves a rich legacy."
