Harold Roe

1930 - 2018

(News story) Harold Roe, a wildlife artist of international renown whose detailed and colorful renderings of waterfowl won awards and helped conservation efforts, died Monday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio on South Detroit Avenue. He was 87.

He had pneumonia and a weakened heart, said his son-in-law, Jeff Zaun.

Mr. Roe of Sylvania was an honorary national trustee of Ducks Unlimited, the waterfowl and wetlands conservation group. He was the Ducks Unlimited international artist of the year in 1985 and 1998.

"Mr. Roe was a champion for conservation and a talented artist that we appreciated and loved having as part of the organization," said Chris Sebastian, a Ducks Unlimited spokesman. "His works captured the meaning of why Ducks Unlimited does what it does."

Mr. Roe was a life sponsor of Ducks Unlimited, which also raised nearly $20 million by selling prints of Mr. Roe's award-winning art. His artwork appeared a record four times on the Ohio Wetlands Habitat Stamp. His portrayal of a gadwall on a moss-covered log took the state duck stamp competition for 1998, while his hooded mergansers won the nod in 1996, his blue-winged teal in 1987, and his green-winged teal in 1984. He also was a finalist for the federal duck stamp art competition.

Mr. Roe was honored in 2016 at the annual "distinguished artist gala" in Sylvania.

His paintings were used on the merry-go-round at the Toledo Zoo. In 1988, under the auspices of the zoo, he produced a limited-edition color print of a giant panda munching on bamboo to coincide with the exhibit of a pair of pandas on loan from China.

"He was not ego driven," his son-in-law said. "I think he got enjoyment out of having completed the work and having people say, 'It's beautiful, Harold.'"

Mr. Roe took care to make his birds and animals realistic - and he placed them in authentic settings. He took hundreds of photos of trees and plants, of rocks and water and sky, from various angles and in varied light.

"He was very meticulous in his work," his daughter Beca Zaun said. "He would redo drawings over and over again until he got them right.

"He loved nature and hunting and fishing and wanted to express that love," she said.

His career depended on his skill at authentic depiction. An architect by education and profession, Mr. Roe for 28 years was art director of Howard Associates Inc., known for its architectural renderings of structures not yet built.

A devotee of Frank Lloyd Wright, he liked modern architecture - clean lines, "lots of glass, lots of chrome, not a lot of clutter," his daughter said. He designed his longtime home in Sylvania.

The Toledo chapter of the American Institute of Architects named him architect of the year in 1990. He retired in 1995.

His inspiration to paint wildlife, birds in particular, came in the early 1970s after a hunting excursion. Waiting along a creek, he'd yet to see the Canada geese he'd come for when suddenly hundreds appeared overhead.

"I was so thrilled I decided then and there to buy a painting of Canada geese as I saw them that day," Mr. Roe told The Blade in 1992. But he could not afford the paintings he liked, and he didn't like what he could afford. He started painting his own, selling his first work at the Sylvania Art Fair in 1973.

"Accuracy is less important to me than capturing the spirit of the birds," Mr. Roe said in 1992. "Birds are such precocious creatures; they have a spark no other living creature has."

In 1987, a nearly 125-acre waterfowl conservation project was named for him in Manitoba. Closer to home, the Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area near Marion, Ohio, includes the Harold Roe Wetlands.

He was born Sept. 22, 1930, the youngest of Letha and Harvey Roe's four sons, and grew up in the Trilby area of what is now West Toledo. He was a 1948 graduate of Whitmer High School, where he was manager of the football team and ran cross country. Through a Navy competition, he received a college education - a bachelor's degree in architecture from Ohio State University - while committing to Navy service afterward. He served aboard the USS Coates, a destroyer escort, and taught at what is now Oregon State University.

He and Ramona Anderson were high school sweethearts. They married June 7, 1952. She died Nov. 12, 2016.

Surviving are his daughter, Rebecca Zaun; two step-granddaughters, and 14 step-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 6 p.m. Sunday at Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania, with visitation after 2 p.m. Sunday.

The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.