Casimir John Rutkowski

Casimir John (Kelly) Rutkowski Long Island Landscape Artist & Erie Native Casimir John (Kelly) Rutkowski, 64, of Water Mill, N.Y. died of lung cancer at his home on April 8, 2005. He was born in Erie on Jan. 28, 1941, son of Pauline Grewont Rutkowski and the late Benjamin Rutkowski. He graduated from Wesleyville High School and from Penn State Behrend where he earned an associate degree in Electrical Engineering. After college he worked for 8 years with the Federal Aviation Association in radar maintenance. Eventually his passion for art took over and he left that job to dedicate his life to art. He held several art positions, including teaching at the National Academy of Design in New York and artist-in residence at Westark College in Fort Smith, Arkansas. His real love was landscape painting which occupied most of his time and heart. His works, capturing images of changing light and season, are parts of permanent art collections at Notre Dame University, The Parrish Art Museum and The Long Island Museum, Stoney Brook. His landscapes are featured in a book by Ronald Pisano, Long Island Landscape Paintings. He has won awards for his art from the National Endowment for the Arts, Guild Hall Museum, Parrish Art Museum and the National Academy of Design in N.Y. He was preceded in death by his much loved son, Andrew. He is survived by 2 sons, Richard of New York City and Stas of San Francisco, California and by two former wives, Hurley Rutkowski of Sag Harbor, N.Y. and Margery Freedman of Water Mill, N.Y. 2 Brothers, Bernard Rutkowski, and James Rutkowski (wife, Kim) of Erie and 2 sisters, Theodora Ann Huff of Cleveland, Ohio and Kathleen Gray (husband Gene) of Waterford, PA. and by 2 sisters-in-law, Carol Rutkowski, Erie and Dawn Rutkowski, Pittsburgh and by aunts, uncles and many nieces, nephews and cousins. A funeral mass was held at Our Lady of Poland Catholic Church, Southampton, N.Y. Funeral services were handled by The J.M. O'Connell Funeral Home, 30 Little Plains Rd., Southampton, N.Y. Memorials can be made to Neighborhood Art House, 201 East 10th, Erie, PA 16503