Henry Valentine Lukas

1926 - 2018

BORN

1926

DIED

2018

About

University of Michigan

Henry Lukas Obituary

Name: Memorial Gathering for Henry Valentine Lukas
Start: 2018-03-18T20:00:00.000Z
End: 2018-03-18T23:00:00.000Z
Location: Solidarity Restaurant

February 14, 1926 - February 19, 2018 Hank (Henry Valentine Lukas) died at home of natural causes on February 19, 2018. He was born in Detroit February 14, 1926 to Polish immigrant parents Wocheck Lukasik and Otylia Palichlief Lukasik. While shipping off to fight in World War II, he picked up a dime-store painting kit. He painted a haunting picture of a woman with no pupils, presaging a unique view into the soul. He spent most of this life immersed in the creative process to answer the question posed by the gift of his life. He attended the University of Michigan on the GI Bill majoring in creative writing. He moved West in 1952 and began a career in advertising working at agencies such as BBDO, Foote Cone & Belding and Gray. He won numerous awards for his copy and as creative Director of Parker Advertising he helped introduce Datsun (Nissan) automobiles to the U.S. with "Drive a Datsun¿then decide." He was married to Elizabeth Lukas from 1950 - 1975. They had three children Brian Neil Lukas (Wendy), Herb George Lukas, and Maria Elizabeth Colman (Barry). He was graced with seven grandchildren, Michael Lukas, Natalie and Lukas Colman, Coleman and Allison Lukas, and Berkeley and Brian Lukas. Mona Aderia Pollack-Lukas is his first great-grandchild. Throughout his life he created art in nearly every medium possible: painting, photography, and sculptures of metal, wood, found objects and the like. His body of work consists of more than 800 creations and at least 40 distinct series. His art appeared in a number of LA galleries and a sample can be seen at http://www.lukasartworks.com. A Memorial will be held on 3/18/18 at Solidarity Restaurant, Santa Monica from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. For info email [email protected]. Please make donations in his name to the charity of your choice.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Los Angeles Times from Mar. 8 to Mar. 11, 2018.

Memories and Condolences
for Henry Lukas

3 Entries

Barry Colman

March 2, 2022

Thank you Hank! You are missed!

Hank and Natalie

Barry Colman

March 18, 2018

Hank. You were The Renaissance Man. I will miss you my good friend. But there is so much positive from you in my dear wife Maria, you will forever stay on my mind.

Early in my courtship with Maria, she took me to the Westside to meet her artist and psychologist father. I was struck with great anxiety to face finally communing with the Oracle of Brentwood. That fear soon subsided as Hank initiated a casual conversation, amid his industrial easel, tubes of paint, wood, metal and clay sculptures, psych books, and scattered oil and water color paintings. The topic. How exactly should we define the word archetype? Immediately I felt welcomed by him into his world of deeper thinking than I had ever been exposed to.

To demonstrate another of the many sides of Hank: the week Maria and I purchased our first residence early in our marriage, a duplex in Long Beach, Hank, showed up, decked out in his trademark suspenders and big pants of an undetermined age. He stayed out all day deftly utilizing his precious tools to design and hang cabinets he fashioned from vintage painted boards, found in the garage, in a kitchen that used to be a bathroom. When complete, the kitchen looked original to the 1920s. And all was good because his daughter Maria's cooking sanctum was complete.

Family was important to Hank. His weekly visits to spend quality, all-in time with his new granddaughter Natalie, sometimes with Golda tagging along, were magical. He first cradled Nat and then walked with her around our recently planted Long Beach yard as she would point and ask, What dat? He would then go into a detailed explanation as Natalie pointed and asked again and again. After we moved to Santa Clarita, Hank continued the tradition, he obviously loved, to spend time now also with his new grandson Lukas. The Tuesday visits were like clockwork and very soothing and loving for our new family. This went on for years, his white diesel Mercedes sputtering up and down our streets.

As Nat and Lukas got older, he would also come to visit for special occasions. I distinctly remember one Halloween. Our life in suburbia involved more than a few child neighbors. That night, Hank wrangled into an old Santa costume and became the hit of the streets. Whenever I look over our back wall now down on the neighborhood, I can still see excited costumed children flocking around Hank, shouting for Santa.

Hank was a safe-harbor for me. And truly one-of-a-kind. I will miss you my good friend.

March 8, 2018

I'm so sorry; my heart goes out to you for your loss. There are no words to express our sadness when a love one passes but our loving God knows how you feel and comforts us with His word. (John 6:40 NWT)

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