Patric McCoy is a retired environmental scientist in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Regional Office in Chicago. He became a national expert in enforcing air pollution regulations against the petroleum refining industry and was the recipient of numerous awards from the Department of Justice and the USEPA for that work. He has been collecting contemporary African American art for 50 years and has a collection of more than 1,300 pieces of fine art, 90% produced by Chicago artists. In 2003 he co-founded Diasporal Rhythms, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 arts organization that promotes the collection by individuals and institutions of art from the African diaspora. He leads the organization in achieving its goals by organizing exhibitions, seminars, studio visits and home tours of collections which showcase the artists being collected in African American communities. In 2010, Mr. McCoy established an art trust to leave his art collection and other items from his estate to Diasporal Rhythms. He is a prolific photographer whose work encapsulates the vibrant life of Black and Brown communities in Chicago from the late ’70s to the early ’90s.
Bio as of 3/2026