Baroness Myriam Ullens, the patron of Happy House Foundation, was shot dead outside her home in the village of Ohain, Brussels, on Wednesday. She was 70.
Myriam, popularly known as Mimi, was traveling with her octogenarian husband in a car when her stepson Nicolas Ullens shot her dead, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
Multiple publications have reported in the past that Myriam and Nicolas Ullens were engaged in a protracted dispute over issues of inheritance.
Mimi was an art collector, philanthropist and entrepreneur who started and sold several successful businesses.
She began her charity work in Nepal and founded Happy House Foundation in 2006, providing high quality care for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Posting a condolence message, Ullens School expressed deep sorrow over the untimely passing of Mimi.
“Her passing is a great loss to the Ullens School community. We extend our heartfelt condolences to our patron, Baron Guy Ullens, and the family. Mimi’s kind-hearted, compassionate, and selfless legacy will forever be cherished for generations to come,” reads the condolence message.
Together with her husband, Baron Guy Ullens, Mimi made significant contributions to Nepal’s education and healthcare sectors, impacting the lives of countless individuals.
Her vision and commitment to providing quality education to children in Nepal culminated with the inception of Ullens School.
A noted contemporary art collector in her own right, Myriam Ullens founded the independent, non-profit art space in the Chinese capital Beijing with her husband in 2007.
In 2017, the Ullens sold the institution to a group of China-based investors, who renamed it the UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art.
Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1952 to an officer in the Belgian army, she married former diplomat Baron Guy Ullens de Schooten Whettnall in 1999.
