Alan L. Hart - Legacy

Legacy

After Hart's death his wife acted on his wish to establish a fund for research into leukaemia, from which his mother had died. The interest on his estate is donated annually to the Alan L. and Edna Ruddick Hart Fund, which makes grants for research into leukaemia and its cure.

Hart's will, written in 1943, stipulated that his personal letters and photographs be destroyed, and this was done on his death in 1962. Hart had acted all his life to control the interpretation of his private and emotional life, and the destruction of his personal records at his death were commensurate with this goal. Believing that the secret of his personal history was safe he made no attempt to account for his own life. His identity as the pseudonymous "H" in Gilbert's notes] was discovered posthumously by Jonathan Ned Katz, and his identity described as lesbian. Katz's attempts to learn more about Hart's life by contacting Hart's widow were discouraged by Edna Ruddick Hart. The message passed on by her friend in Albany was: "Let that all be passed now. She is older and does not want any more heart ache now."