JACK MASEY

MASEY--Jack,

President of Metaform, Inc., died in Manhattan on Sunday, March 13, 2016 of natural causes. An exhibition designer and author, he was held in high esteem internationally for the role that he played as design director for the United States Information Agency in projecting America's image abroad during the Cold War period. His was a cultural offensive in which he commissioned many of the outstanding design talents of the period, among them: R. Buckminster Fuller, Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Chermayeff & Geismar, to create World's Fair Pavilions and exhibitions reflecting the achievements of the United States in art, science and technology. He was Design Chief for the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, scene of the Nixon- Khrushchev Kitchen Debate. "Make-Believe: America: U.S. Cultural Exhibitions in the Cold War," an exhibition at the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA), through June 12, 2016, demonstrates the significance of his contribution toward projecting a positive image of the United States in this difficult period. Continuing his role at the United States Information Agency, he was responsible for the planning and execution of the US Pavilion at Expo '67, now Montreal's Biosphere. After founding MetaForm, Inc. in New York City in 1979, he was Project Manager for numerous major American museum exhibitions including the Ellis Island Museum and the Statue of Liberty Museum in New York Harbor. He received Presidential Design Awards for his role in both. In a recent documentary film, his role as a member of the World War II Ghost Army Camouflage Corps was portrayed. Born in Brooklyn, he was a graduate of the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Yale School of Art and Architecture. The Masey Archive in New York is dedicated to his projects and will be maintained in the future by Yale's Sterling Memorial Library. A mentor to many young designers and museum curators, he was much beloved for his outrageous good humor, full-throated enthusiasms and zeal for life; he worked until his death at 91. He is survived by his wife, Beverly Payeff-Masey, two stepchildren, three step- grandchildren and a nephew. Mary Lou Masey, his first wife, predeceased him in 1991. To honor his specific instructions, no public ceremony of remembrance is scheduled. A private interment will be held in Washington, D.C.