A forceful and highly opinionated woman who fled the Nazis and became an internationally renowned artist, futurist and sociologist had no trouble making her preferences clear—right up until the end, a Buffalo surrogate concluded in upholding an extensive donation of archives to a not-for-profit foundation.

“Magda had her good days and her not such good days in her last two months, but she was always able to make her wishes known,” Erie County Surrogate Barbara Howe (See Profile) found in Matter of McHale, 2008-1015/g. “More importantly, she was always able to make clear when she disagreed with something.”