Harry McClurg Drake

Drake, Harry McClurg 86, of St. Paul, died suddenly at his home on July 3, 2012. Harry was born in St. Paul on September 20, 1925, the third son of Carl B. Drake, M.D., and Louise H. Drake of Portland Avenue, St. Paul. Born nearly totally deaf, Harry attended the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, Missouri, for several years as a young boy, where he learned to lip-read, a skill that would serve him well throughout his life. Upon his return to St. Paul, he attended the St. Paul Academy and then spent one year at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts. He then received his B.A. from Macalester College in St. Paul in 1950, majoring in art. After college, he pursued his passion for the arts, attending the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles before heading to New York City to join the graphic design firm of Frank Gianninoto & Associates. Several years later, he returned to the Twin Cities to join the advertising firm of McManus, John and Adams and to design a home for himself that he lived in for the next 50 years. Throughout his life, Harry was an avid sportsman (skiing, tennis and golf), archivist, art collector and philanthropist. He amassed an impressive private collection of modern photographs, some of which were proudly displayed at a 1997 exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts entitled "The Poetics of Vision: Photographs from the Collection of Harry M. Drake." He was a staunch supporter of Macalester College, serving for a decade as the College's archivist. He endowed Macalester's Harry M. Drake Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities and Fine Arts in 1998 and received Macalester's 2005 Distinguished Citizen Award. Similarly, he remained actively involved in the St. Paul Academy, serving as archivist and art benefactor at the school for many years. The Academy dedicated its centennial history book to Harry and named the Harry M. Drake Gallery in his honor. He was also actively involved in many other charitable organizations, serving on the Boards of the Courage Center Foundation, Minnesota Foundation for Better Hearing and Speech, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis College of Art & Design and the St. Paul Philharmonic (now the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra). In his "spare time" he compiled an extensive family genealogy. Harry loved to travel, to pursue his interest in photography, to ski, and to keep in touch with his friends and family throughout the world. He attended every wedding of his brothers, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, where he was a fixture on the dance floor, and was an honored regular guest at his relatives' holiday gatherings over the years. Harry was pre-deceased by his parents and his brothers Emerson H. Drake of Falmouth, Maine, and Carl B. Drake, Jr. of St. Paul. He is survived by 7 nieces and nephews, 18 grandnieces and grandnephews and 9 great-grandnieces and nephews. In accordance with Harry's wishes, services will be limited to a private graveside service for immediate family only. However, the family is also planning a grander occasion at which his many friends can celebrate his life. Donations in Harry's memory to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Macalester College and St. Paul Academy are warmly encouraged.