Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans, he fell in love with the city and made it his home for the next fourteen years, immersing himself in the city's lively jazz and blues scene. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina heavily damaged Leonard's home studio when the 17th Canal Levee broke near his home. The photographer and his family lost much property, including 8,000 prints, but his negatives were protected in the vault of the Ogden Museum in New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, Leonard moved to Studio City, California, and re-established his business there, working with music and film companies and magazines. During this time, he received a grant from the GRAMMY Foundation, that allowed for his vast library of photographic negatives to be digitally archived for future generations. Leonard's jazz photographs, now valuable collector's items, are a unique record of the jazz scene of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and his collection is now in the permanent archives of American Musical History in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. In 2008, long-time friend Tony Bennett presented Leonard with the coveted Lucie Award at a ceremony at Lincoln Center in New York City. In June 2009, Leonard was the commencement speaker for the 2009 graduating class of Ohio University, at which time he also received an honorary doctorate. He worked with musician Lenny Kravitz on a project in the Bahamas during January 2010. Louisiana Public Broadcasting, under president Beth Courtney, produced the documentary Frame after Frame: The Images of Herman Leonard. The BBC produced a film, (2011) "Saving Jazz", about Herman Leonard's struggles following the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. The film was directed by documentary filmmaker Leslie Woodhead. In 2012, the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles presented a year-long retrospective, Herman Leonard: Documenting the Giants of Jazz. In 2013, The William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas honored Herman Leonard's work with a major five-month exhibition, Jazz: Through the Eyes of Herman Leonard. The exhibition included artifacts from many of the artists that Leonard photographed, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, and Ella Fitzgerald. President Clinton has said that "Herman Leonard is the greatest jazz photographer in the history of the genre." A keynote address was given by Leonard's daughter Shana Leonard and Stephen Smith. Sources Herman Leonard's official website Obituary, Financial Times (London), August 20, 2010 References External links 1923 births 2010 deaths 21st-century American