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Mother Teresa of Calcutta

About the Portrait

Painting of Mother Teresa by Frank Szasz in Greenlease Library

This portrait of Mother Teresa hangs on the northern wall of Greenlease Library. The story about how the portrait came to reside at Rockhurst University as pieced together from memories of Fr. Pat Tobin and other sources:

  • Painted in 1982 by Frank V. Szasz at the request of Fr. Pat Tobin, who was on the Board of Catholic Relief Services which had scheduled Mother Teresa to speak in Kansas City sometime in 1982
  • The portrait/banner was intended to be used as the backdrop behind the stage of the gathering in 1982; however, Mother Teresa was not able to attend the event due to an illness
  • Frank Szasz created the banner gratis for the event
  • The banner was donated to Rockhurst College in 1986
  • Restoration of portrait occurred in summer of 2016

About the Painter

Frank V. Szasz  

  • Born: August 1, 1925 in Budapest, Hungary
  • Died: March 10, 1995 in Kansas City, KS
  • Came to the United States in 1957 
  • Worked as part of the art staff at Hallmark Cards
  • Taught painting at the Kansas City Art Institute and art history at Rockhurst College
  • Paintings include: U.S. Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon and Ford; Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Mrs. Jahan Sadat; Queen Noir of Jordan; Albert Einstein; Anwar Sadat; Albert Schweitzer; Mark Twain; Eleanor Roosevelt; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Mahatma Gandhi; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin; Mother Teresa; Pope John XXIII; Pope John Paul II

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 Rockhurst University Library · 1100 Rockhurst Road · Kansas City, MO 64110 · 816-501-4142