Here’s a heart-warmer: Alumni at the Corcoran College of Art + Design have launched a funding drive to purchase a painting by D.C. artist Tom Green, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. The alumni foundation intends to present the work to the Corcoran for its permanent collection.

In 2010, the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center hosted a weighty retrospective in honor of Green. In December, the Post‘s Michael E. Ruane wrote a big profile on the artist, noting that Green has lost weight recently as well as some function in his hands. Green’s greatest legacy may not be his sorta-figurative, sorta-not hieroglyphic paintings, but rather his long career as an educator at the Corc. He was an instructor there for 35 years.

Some of Green’s work is now showing as part of Civilian Art Projects’ “6 Painters” exhibit. Perhaps the Corcoran alumni mean to pick up one of those pieces.