Bronius Sredersas - known about town as "Mr Bob" was instrumental in founding Wollongong Art Gallery in 1978 after gifting more than 100 fine art pieces (paintings, ceramics and artefacts) from his personal collection.

Read more: What next for Wollongong Art Gallery after Nazi war crimes bombshell

His donation was to give something to the children of the community so they would grow up with culture.

Executor of Sredersas' will Michael Bach had previously told the Mercury the generous donations from his good friend were the "catalyst" to the gallery opening.

In his new country, the quiet art enthusiast was known as the observer, much preferring to stand back and listen rather than steal the spotlight. Though Mr Bach said he was highly intelligent and well educated, with a strong appreciation for culture.

In 2018, the life of Sredersas was celebrated by Wollongong Art Gallery with an exhibition of art, his belongings, personal papers and reenactments because he "transformed the cultural landscape of our city" according to gallery publicity.

At the time, exhibition curator Anne-Louise Rentell said the humble man who didn't like to talk about his past, played a major part in Wollongong's cultural transformation.

Sredersas was well known to spend his spare time fossicking in galleries and antique shops to enhance his art collection which crammed into every nook and cranny of his tiny fibro cottage in Cringila.

He also became a familiar figure at Sydney art auctions and known as "Mr Bob". Artists like Rupert Bunny, James R.Jackson, Will Ashton, Margaret Preston, Fred Leist all became part of his collection.

There is much documentation about the immigrant's early life, though documents become a little vague with some ambiguities between 1940 to 1949.

Documents held by the City of Wollongong do show Sredersas was part of the Lithuanian secret service (Security Department of the Lithuanian Civil Service) until mid-way through WWII.

Archived documents recently uncovered now suggest the immigrant worked for the SD (Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsfuhrers - SS, which translates as the Security Service of the Reichsfuhrer SS) in the Lithuanian city of Kauen (the German name for the city of Kaunas).

This was the intelligence section of the Nazi SS which was instrumental in the mass killing of Lithuanian Jews during World War II.

In 1950, Sredersas migrated to Australia at the age of 39 and after two years of living in migrant hostels he built a house in Hoskins street, Cringila.

He never married, steered clear of pubs and football games, but was a regular at art auctions and meetings of the Illawarra Arts Society.

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