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Part 2 After retiring, Mack moved to Florida. He was looking for a quiet life, some sunshine, and the Garikow collection. In 2001, another Garikow painting was auctioned off in Orlando. He contacted the auctioneer and was told that the seller was Ivan's son, Arnold, but he had left no forwarding address. Months later, he attended another Garikow showing where he met Arnold. It was during these meetings that he learned what had really happened to Ivan after his disappearance. In 2003, Arnold decided to sell the entire collection. He knew that a large percentage of Ivan's collection had never been seen by anyone. It was, in fact, a lost treasure chest of paintings that was about to be rediscovered; however, he had no idea of the grandeur of Ivan's collection. It was magnificent. "Discovering this master artist's lost collection was almost like discovering a Pharaoh's tomb for the very first time. I knew these pieces of fine art had not seen the light of day since the artist created them," he exclaimed. Over the next few weeks, they catalogued Ivan Garikow's complete collection. The storage shed also contained personal belongings and documents pertaining to Ivan's life.
There were photographs, refugee papers, handwritten notes and newspaper clippings, but what surprised Mack the most was seeing the artist's cremated remains laying there. It was as if Ivan was still guarding and protecting his collection of paintings, his life's work.On the day that he took possession of Ivan Garikow's art collection and Arnold took his father's ashes elsewhere, it marked the first time that Ivan had ever been separated from his paintings, both in life and in death. Oddly enough, in September of 2004, just a few weeks after the ashes of artist Garikow had been separated from his paintings, Florida was hit with the sixth strongest category 5 hurricane on record, and its name, Ivan.
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