John Christopher Leavey

1937 - 2025

John (Jack) Christopher Leavey passed on peacefully on May 8, 2025. He was born on March 21, 1937 in the Bronx, NY to Thomas and Anastasia (Ann) Leavey. He graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens in 1955 and shortly after joined the Art Students League where he received a Robert Ward Johnson Scholarship in 1961. While at the League he met the love of his life, Norma Rubin, who encouraged and supported his artistic career from NY to Europe.

In addition to working as a scenic artist, Jack became an internationally known painter, working in genre painting, landscapes, and portraits. He received a Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant in Painting in 1965, a Prix de Rome at the American Academy in Rome from 1969-1970 and 1970- 1971, and the Benjamin Altman Prize at the National Academy of Design in 1988. His work has been exhibited in the United States and Europe and can be found in permanent collections such as the Hirschhorn Collection in Washington, DC, Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, the Museo della Citta di Roma, in Rome, Italy, and various corporate and private collections.

John Leavey was a vibrant, kind, and generous man who made friends wherever he went and was painting and drawing into his final days. He deeply valued his relationships with his family and friends. Jack was predeceased by his wife Norma Leavey in 2022, his siblings Harry, Thomas, and Florence Leavey, and his parents. He is survived by ten nieces and nephews, seventeen grand-nieces and grand-nephews, and many long-time friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Jack's name could be made to the Art Students League in New York, NY. (https://www.artstudentsleague.org/support).