Leroy Neiman

LeRoy Neiman (born LeRoy Leslie Runquist, June 8, 1921 – June 20, 2012) was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screen prints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events.\n', '

Neiman was born in 1921 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the son of Lydia Sophia (née Serline), of Braham, Minnesota, and Charles Julius Runquist, who were married in 1918 and lived in Grasston, Minnesota (Kanabec County). He was of Turkish and Swedish descent ("as near as I can figure out," as he has said). His father deserted his family, and when his mother married his stepfather, John L. Niman (Neiman) in 1926, LeRoy changed to the new surname as well. His mother divorced Neiman about 1935, and married for the third time in about 1940, to Ernst G. Hoelscher, of St. Paul. She died in St. Paul on November 14, 1985 at age 87. LeRoy was raised in the Macalester-Groveland and…