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Walt Reed, 97, Westport Resident Promoted Illustration Art

WESTPORT, Conn. -- Walt Arnold Reed died Wednesday, March 18, at his home in Westport. He was 97.

Reed was the husband to Mary Inez Reed. He is remembered primarily as a champion of the art of illustration and his various activities -- illustrator, author, lecturer, editor, historian, archivist and art dealer -- were all engaged with the promotion of illustration art as a valid field of art history and a viable branch of the art market.

Walt founded the specialized art gallery Illustration House in Westport in 1973. He moved it to South Norwalk in 1979 and New York City in 1987. Walt was born in Big Spring, Texas, in July 1917 to Edith and Fay Reed and was raised in Grand Rapids, Mich.

He went to New York to study art, first at Pratt Institute and then at the New York Phoenix School of Design. He married Mary Garavagno in 1948. A lifelong pacifist, Walt was a conscientious objector during World War II and worked at an agricultural station in North Dakota and a mental hospital in West Virginia for his government service.

After the war, Walt worked for CARE, doing relief work in various European countries, then moved to Westport to join the community of illustrators in 1952. In Westport, Walt did freelance illustration, worked for Famous Artists Schools and North Light Publishers before opening his gallery.

He was active in the Westport-Weston Arts Council and the Westport Historical Society. Walt was also on the Sanford Low Committee at the New Britain Museum of American Art and on the museum committee at the Society of Illustrators in New York. He is the author of several books on the history of illustration, including three editions of "The Illustrator in America" (1966, 1984, 2001), "Harold Von Schmidt Draws and Paints the Old West" (Northland Press, 1972), "The Magic Pen of Joseph Clement Coll" (Donald M. Grant, 1978), "John Clymer: An Artist’s Rendezvous with the Frontier West" (Northland, 1976), and "Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West" (Flesk Publishing, 2008).

Reed is survived by his wife, Mary, 93; and his three children Stina Reed of Newtown, Geoffrey Reed of Bridgeport and Roger Reed of Westport. He also is survived by four grandsons.

 A memorial service will be held Monday, April 20, at the Society of Illustrators, 128 E. 63rd St., New York. Donations in Walt’s name may be made to The Westport Historical Society in Westport; The Society of Illustrators in New York; or the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.

Funeral arrangements are in the care of Collins Funeral Home, Norwalk.

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