BENJAMIN LEE "BEN" MAHMOUD

1935 - 2009

Benjamin Mahmoud, 73, died June 2, 2009, in New Port Richey, Fla., of ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Born Oct. 6, 1935, in Charleston, W.Va., Ben attended Stonewall Jackson High School in Charleston, W.Va. He received his higher education at the Columbus (Ohio) Art School and Ohio University, graduating in 1960. He spent two years teaching at La Universidad Interamerica in Puerto Rico. He taught two years at West Virginia State College. He joined the faculty of the Art Department at Northern Illinois University in 1965.
During his tenure at NIU, Ben was awarded many honors, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He had many exhibitions in Chicago; for almost 30 years he was with the Sonia Zaks Gallery. There were many university and museum shows of his work during his tenure at NIU. The university acknowledged Ben's achievements by awarding him a Presidential Research Professorship. When Ben retired in 1998, he held the title of distinguished research professor. A year after his retirement, Rockford (Ill.) Museum mounted a retrospective of Ben's work.
Shortly after his retirement, Ben moved to Florida and began to produce very different work from his previous paintings. He loved the outdoors, and the tropical nature of Florida inspired him to change his work.
He is survived by his wife, Pamela; his daughters, Kassandra Newman and Amanda Wolkowitz; and his son, Jeremy Knopow. Ben had two grandchildren, which gave him great joy.