Lew Minter retired Director of the Art Department’s Media Lab in the Williams Visual Arts Building passed away today. He started as a part-time instructor at Lafayette in the Art Department in1986 and retired as the Director of the Media Lab in the Williams Visual Arts Building in 2012. He is fondly remembered by students and faculty members alike.
He is survived by his beloved wife Kathy and her children and grandchildren. Lew’s professional life was centered in Manhattan after his training at the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. He led many design studios and was a lead designer for Butterick Patterns before moving to agency work.
Lew was a well known artist too. His work was shown in New York and across the country. He collaborated with artists, other designers, musicians and writers to produce award winning work and was frequently recognized by professional design associations.
He moved to Easton in the early 1980’s starting his own successful agency. Eventually he took a position at Lafayette where he taught advertising, design, and promotional skills. Students flocked to his classes which were modeled on real agency work and they prospered under his passionate direction.
“The opportunity to do research with such a brilliant mind like Lew Minter is such a privilege. I have been able to assist in digital reconstructions of works by historical artists like Antonio Vivarini, helped visiting artists in the designing and printing of their artwork, and [worked] on an installation for Easton Hospital. Although made in 2008, that comment by a double major in economics and art at Lafayette College illustrates the impact Lew had on our undergraduates throughout his Lafayette career, first in a part-time capacity as adjunct instructor and then when he assumed the full-time position of director of the Art Department Media Lab, a role that also tapped his talents as a teacher.
Among the qualities that made Lew Minter such an effective guide and mentor for students was the breadth of his expertise and interests. In working with an EXCEL research Scholar on the reconstruction of altarpiece panels from Renaissance Italy, he taught her invaluable lessons about art history as well as about art restoration (and the capacity of digital technology to enhance that process). His work in digital restoration was published in the leading textbook on Italian Renaissance art and in Italian and German scholarly journals.
Lew was equally qualified to teach students about advertising and promotion design, visual communication through technology, the principles of studio art, and other topics he introduced into the curriculum. As an artist with a national and international reputation, Lew also exemplified the highest standards of professionalism for Lafayette students. Throughout his time at Lafayette, Lew nurtured countless young artists and deepened their love of art.
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