CHARLES A. MEYER

1942 - 2020

MEYER, Charles A. Photographer, Teacher, and Filmmaker Charles A. Meyer of Somerville, MA and Penobscot, ME died at his Massachusetts home on December 21, 2020, after a battle with cancer. He was 78 years old. A photographer, teacher, and filmmaker, he retired in 2011 from his position as professor of photography at Boston College, where he established the photo curriculum and was instrumental in creating a state-of-the-art photo facility for the Fine Arts Department. He had previously held appointments at Hampshire College, Clark University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and had served as the Harnish Visiting Artist in Photography at Smith College. His former students and colleagues never fail to mention how much they learned from him, and how generous he always was with his time. His work in film included numerous documentaries, among them the PBS television specials Civil War and Baseball, by Ken Burns, and Compassion in Exile: The Story of the 14th Dalai Lama. He also served as photographer and associate producer for a four-part film series on conflict resolution in war-torn areas of the world. If teaching and film work were his vocation, photography was his passionate avocation. Steeped in the history of photography, he collected antique cameras and explored vintage photographic processes. His own photographs, shot with a compassionate eye, tended toward candid, street, and environmental portraits in this country and abroad. Always eager to travel and connect with humankind, he took on such projects as the coal mines and steel mills in Pennsylvania, the Crow Fair Rodeo in Montana, the Dickson Mule Auction in Tennessee, people and places in India, the Thai-Cambodian Border Refugee Camps, and survivors of the conflicts in the Balkans, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. In such widely varied subject matter, his intent was always to "respect the subject before me while providing a meaningful context." His photographs are in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Polaroid, and many other institutions and private collections. His work has been exhibited at numerous museums and galleries, including the Addison Gallery of American Art, the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and the UNESCO Gallery in Paris, France. Some of his extensive work can be viewed on charlesameyer.com He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Nancy Witting, his brother Martin, and numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews. Due to Covid-19, there are no immediate plans for a memorial service. Donations to honor his memory may be made to Good Shepherd Community Care GSCommunityCare.org

View the online memorial for Charles A. MEYER