Jonas Armstrong Howard

Jonas A. Howard

JEFFERSONVILLE, IND. - Jonas Armstrong Howard, age 76, passed away Friday, Jan. 23, 2009, due to complications from surgery.

Born and raised in Jeffersonville, Ind., he was the son of the late Helen Armstrong and Jonas G. Howard. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts from the University of Louisville and Indiana University.

After serving as a U.S. Army photographer in Heidelberg, Germany for two years, he came back to Indiana and began a 30 year career as a Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University Southeast.

He was Chair of Fine Arts and Director of the University Fine Arts Gallery for 25 years and was Dean of the Division of Humanities for six years. He retired Professor Emeritus in 1994 and began devoting full time to his art work.

Jonas and his wife, Mimi spent the next 15 years in Sarasota, Fla. where he continued to paint and exhibit his work.

In 2007, they moved their studio to Salisbury, N.C. Over his lifetime he has exhibited his work in regional, national and international venues and his work is held in a number of corporate, institutional and museum collections and in many private collections as well.

Howard served in various capacities for a number of regional and state arts agencies in Indiana and Kentucky, and was a member of the Indiana Humanities Council for six years. During this time he also served as a consultant to The National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C.

Jonas also maintained his professional tenor voice as an active participant in several choral groups and choirs in Louisville and Sarasota and was a member of the Catawba Chorale in Salisbury.

He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Mimi Howard and his sister, Janet Miller of Birmingham, Ala. He will also be missed by his sisters and brothers-in-law and numerous nieces and nephews.

Expressions of sympathy may be made as donations to Doctors without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, any no-kill animal shelter, or humanitarian relief organization.