Lewis Moore Obituary
Lewis Harold Moore, who passed away on September 4, 2025 in Fairfax City VA, was born in Fort Lupton, Colorado on October 29, 1935. His parents, Lewis William Moore and Bernice McCarl Moore were farmers, who as so many of their generation left the farm for the city during WW2. After graduation from high school in Golden, Lewis served with the Marines in Korea (1951-1953) and then enrolled at the University of Colorado in Boulder where he discovered his interest and talent in painting, especially landscape painting. In 1959 he decided to continue his studies in Europe. He traveled to Munich, Germany and was accepted at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste as a student. After two years, in which he traveled extensively to see the art and culture of Europe, he returned to the United States. Although his art is quintessentially American as it reflects the constancy of its landscape and the shifting modes of its people, all that he saw then and continued to see in his many trips back to Europe remained creative forces. Before his return he married Cornelia Niekus Moore, whom he had met on board the Dutch ship on which he had made his journey to Europe.
Upon his return he completed his Bachelor's in Art at the University of Colorado (1966) and a Master's at Indiana University (1968). During those years three sons were born (Lewis jr, Gys, and Robert). Then followed an almost thirty-year position as a lecturer at some of the state colleges in Hawaii (1972-1999), where he tried to instill in his students enthusiasm for the art forms that had inspired him. For its part the opulent, lavish nature of the islands found reflection in his painting. He retired from the position in 1999 to be able to visit new places and find inspiration in different landscapes. After many years of working with acrylics and airbrush, new media like neon, digital photography and Photoshop led to a change from painting to print, becoming increasingly abstract, showing the constructive and deconstructive forces of man as a beneficial or negative factor in nature. During his career, he was invited to have shows in the US, the Netherlands and Germany. Most of his art is privately owned.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, three sons: Lewis Jr. (Alyson), Gys (Tahnee), and Robert (Andrea), six grandsons, four great grandchildren and a sister. A funeral at Quantico Marine Corps Base is pending.
Published by The Washington Post on Oct. 5, 2025.