We wish to acknowledge the passing of my former husband, dear friend and co-founder of the original Haitian Art Collection - Anthony Talbot Barr.

In 1988 Tony and I started the first gallery dedicated to Haitian art in Boca Raton, Florida. He went to Haiti many times to help me purchase directly from our artists and was totally enthralled with the country and its people.

Tony went on to become Director of The Barr Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by his father, the late Senator William G. Barr. Tony took the Foundation to the next level focusing on countries in Latin America and the Caribbean basin. Through his efforts and that of the Foundation, over 1200 people in impoverished parts of the world were fitted with limbs designed especially for them.

Tony also championed the passing of the William G. Barr bill. The bill requires all practicing prosthetics to pass specific tests and have a license to properly produce artificial limbs. Both Tony and his father were amputees and I witnessed their pain first hand because of ill fitting prosthetic devices.