AMHERST - Leander "Ted" Fornas, 88, passed away Tuesday, March 11, 2014, at the Center for Extended Care in Amherst.

He is survived by his daughters Laura and Tina Fornas and his grandchildren Emily, Robin and Henrietta.

Ted was born June 18, 1925, in Gardner.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 and served as an interpreter with the 85th Mountain Infantry attached to the 10th Mountain Division.

After the war, he pursued his childhood dream of a career in illustration at the Pratt Institute in New York City. Ted continued his studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich, Switzerland, and at the Suomen Taideakatemian in Finland.

During his career, Ted's work has been shown in major exhibitions in New York, Rome, Athens, Moscow, Goteborg, and Sao Paulo. Today his original prints are included in collections at The Museum of Modern Art and Rockefeller Center in New York City, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and The Anteneum Art Museum in Finland, which lists eight of his graphic works in its permanent collection.

Ted married in 1954 and returned to Finland with his wife Pirkko-Liisa, and two young daughters in 1960. After divorcing in 1967, Ted returned to the United States, and his wife and daughters moved to Sweden. This time the move was permanent for Ted, and he became a professor and head of the art department at Holyoke Community College in Massachusetts.

In lieu of flowers, his family asks that those who wish to remember him make a donation to the Alzheimer's Association.

Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

To sign a Guest Book, express condolences, share memories and read other obituaries, go to www.gazettenet.com/obituaries.

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Published by Daily Hampshire Gazette on Apr. 4, 2014.

Memories and Condolences
for Leander Fornas

6 Entries

William Carpenter

April 28, 2014

Ted, here is the Captain.

Thanks for taking the time listen to and answer my questions. You are the best professor that I had. I am so sorry that I was not able to talk to you in the last couple of years. I think the last time I called to say hello was from Bosnia. In any case
adios amigos..... You will be missed greatly. Your friend, Bill

Eileen Kelley

April 15, 2014

Sorry to hear of Ted's passing. I loved working with him at HCC and will always remember our chats about languages, art and culture. Godspeed, Ted.

April 10, 2014

Ted was one fine, adventurous man who had many tales of his trips to see the Cree natives. We miss his knowledge of human societies and ability as a skilled artist.

Win Lavallee

George Ashley

April 10, 2014

I was happy to have known Ted as a colleague at HCC and will always remember listening to his stories about canoeing the rivers and lakes in the Mistassini Cree homeland in central Quebec province.

Antti Kaisla

April 5, 2014

My father and Ted worked together in the Helsinki Olympic games in 1952. They remained friends ever since. I met Ted in 1982 when I arrived in the U.S. to study at the Holyoke Community College. My first two weeks here I stayed at Ted's house in Leverett. Ted was an inspiring teacher and a friend who had an unbelievable amount of knowledge about art, especially printmaking. During my college years Ted spent his summers canoeing in northern Canada and living with the natives (Cree?). Later he got his doctorate in comparing the similarities in Finnish and Cree languages. In the March of 2010 I was listening to Ted and my father swapping stories at my house. It became very clear that Ted had lived at least three lifetimes in his 88 years. I visited Ted in the Fisher Home a little more than a year ago and he still spoke Finnish better than most Finns. When I tried to visit him again he was no longer there and I could not find out about his whereabouts until yesterday, when I saw the obituary in the paper. My wife and I (and I am sure many others) will miss Ted and all the vibrant and interesting conversations we've had in our years of knowing him.

Jackie Kolodziej

April 4, 2014

Ted, you were a lot of fun to know. If there are saunas on the other side-no wondering where you (and Huck) are. If I hear faint strains of "Kulkurin Valssi" I'll know where to look.

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