In 1986 the Norwegian council in New York, Jon Bjørnebye, boarded an aeroplane to Norway.  In his suitcase was a collection of Edvard Grieg's manuscripts, amounting to a value of NOK five million.  The collection consisted of 800 scores, in addition to 375 hand-written letters in German from Edvard and Nina Grieg.  The Norwegian Parliament had purchased the material from the music publisher C. F.: Peters Corporation, New York.  Kaare Nygaard had played an active role in setting up the contacts between the publisher and the Norwegian cabinet, and also in the negotiations that followed.

Kaare K. Nygaard was a rare kind of person.  Professionally he was very capable, his work capacity was great, his interests and knowledge spanned widely.  Even though he lived the bulk of his grown life in New York, he never forgot his childhood town.  He did not himself have the opportunity to visit many times, but he kept in touch with family and friends by letters and the telephone, and was keenly interested in news of friends and the town.
He passed away in his home in Scarsdale April 22, 1989, with his wife Gail Delgado Nygaard at his side.

The archives of Kaare K. Nygaard bear witness to a long and full life.  Before his death, he decided to will his book collection, sculptures and his archive to Lillehammer.  The book collection, more than 4000 volumes, is at Nansenskolen in Lillehammer.  His archive of patients has been transferred to The National Archives in Olso, while his archive of private and business matters is kept at Opplandsarkivet, Maihaugen.  The archive consists of 92 boxes, covering 9,6 metres of shelf.

References:
A-00619 Kaare Nygaard
Eidsvåg, Inge (1993): "Henders gjerning".  Thorsrud a.s. Lokalhistorisk Forlag,
Lillehammer, ISBN 82-90439-80-6