David Hayes Obituary

The sculptor David Hayes died at home on April 9, 2013, of leukemia. He was 82.

Hayes is regarded as one of America's great contemporary sculptors and leaves behind a half-century of work, much of it housed in museums across the country. Born in 1931, David Hayes studied at the University of Notre Dame and continued on to Indiana University, where he studied with David Smith. After service in the Navy, he married Julia Moriarty in 1957 and moved to France in 1961 to pursue advanced studies and begin raising a family. There, he met and discussed their reciprocal work with, among others, the artists Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, and Alberto Giacometti. He has been exhibiting continuously since 1955 and has had several hundred museum shows. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the National Museum of American Art, locally at the Wadsworth Atheneum and the New Britain Museum of Art, plus some 100 major collections around the country. A show of his hanging sculpture is now on display at the Lutz Children's Museum in Manchester. He is also showing at Goodwin College and the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky and exhibited these past 12 months in Annapolis, Md., Peoria, Ill., Garrison, N.Y., Westfield, Mass., White Plains, N.Y., and Huntsville, Ala. This summer his work will be shown at the University of Notre Dame's Snite Museum; other upcoming exhibits include the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Altoona and the Housatonic Museum of Art.

David Hayes leaves behind his wife of 55 years, Julia; his four children, David (Julie), Brian (Aveline), Mary (Kevin), and John, his longtime curator; his granddaughter, Alexandra Hayes; his sister, Cathy Toomey (Tom); and brother, Richard (Marie); brother-in-law, Maurice (Ellen); sister-in-law, Connie; and numerous nieces and nephews of several generations. He was predeceased by his brother Martin.

Among numerous recognitions, he received a post-doctoral Fulbright award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a recipient of the Logan Prize for Sculpture and an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He has served as a trustee for the Hartford Art School, where he subsequently served as regent. In 2007, he was conferred an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Albertus Magnus College.

His family will receive relatives and friends on Monday, April 15, 2013, between 6 and 8 p.m. at Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson St. (Route 195), Willimantic.

His funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, April 16, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, 46 N. Eagleville Road, Storrs. Interment will then follow in St. Mary Cemetery, Coventry.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested to WAIM (Windham Area Interfaith Ministry), P.O. Box 221, Willimantic, CT 06226.

For an online memorial guestbook please visit

www.potterfuneralhome.com

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

Published by Journal Inquirer from Apr. 11 to Apr. 15, 2013.

Memories and Condolences
for David Hayes

4 Entries

Peg DeForge

April 18, 2013

May you receive comfort knowing your brother is now painting magnificent murals for his Higher Power. David's painting will now grace god's museums.

David Lanciano

April 15, 2013

I fondly remember Mr. David Hayes was a wonderful, gentle, quite and unassuming man. Long ago I had the pleasure of enjoying mornings waiting for his wife Julia before she would take me to school. It was during those morning meetings I had the treasured opportunity to be in his presence. You see I commuted with Julia to East Catholic High School everyday for four years when she was teaching Chemistry at East Catholic where I was a student. Every morning Mr. Hayes would greet me while sitting at his kitchen table, drinking his coffee, insuring there was wood in the stove, quietly drawing. I always knew Mr. Hayes was an artist, watching him sketching and exploring a new shape for a project he was working on but it wasn't until years later that I realized his impact upon the world of art. I never saw him without a sketch pad and a finely sharpened pencil capturing the shapes that consumed his world. His work captivated me. Now living in Manchester, I often pass an exhibit of his work in front of the Lutz Children's Museum and think back to him sitting in his kitchen or riding with us in the car al the while sketching. Could that sketched work have made it from his sketch pad to the steel form now as a work of art? Could that be the piece? Personally I'll never know but I am happy to have known him as a friend and as the artist. I'm sorry that he will never know how much his work touched me. Thank you for the gift that you shared with all of us Mr. Hayes for the body of work that you left behind will allow us to think of you always and forever. Rest in Peace. David Lanciano, Manchester CT.

Colleen Tardif

April 15, 2013

My sympathy to the Hayes family. I took care of david for a while and enjoyed talking to him. We always had a nice converations talking about anything and he always had a smile on his face when i came in and told me i always did a nice job. I will be miss david he was a nice person with a great heart. Colleen from the V.N.A

Sandy Graham (Morneau)

April 12, 2013

Our hearts go out to the entire Hayes Family....I remember how talented your Dad was and Your Mom was always so kind to us. I often wonder about Mary and John Mark Best wishes from the Morneau Family

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