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Obituaries
Page 6-B The Philadelphia Tribune Friday, November 11, 2005

Reginald Gammon, 84, renowned artist

By Jennifer Smith
Tribune Staff Writer

Reginald Gammon, a native Philadelphian and nationally known artist, died Nov. 4 at the Heart Hospital in Albuquerque, N.M. of complications from diabetes. He was 84. 

During the early 1960s, Gammon became a member of Spiral, a group that included artists such as Romare Bearden and Richard Mayhew, and found ways for African-American visual artists to contribute to the civil rights movement. A 1965 piece entitled "Freedom Now," was among Gammon's contributions to the collective.

He later joined the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition.

Gammon was born in Philadelphia to Reginald A. Gammon, Sr. and Martha Brown Gammon March 31, 1921, and attended Central and Benjamin Franklin High schools. He was a member of the Saint Simon the Cyrenian Episcopal Church.
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He studied at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and at Temple's Tyler School of Fine Art.

Gammon also served in the Navy and worked for an advertising firm before serving as artist-in-residence in New York City. 

In 1983, Gammon became a humanities and art professor at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

Following retirement in 1991, Gammon and his wife Joni relocated to Albuquerque, N.M. where he continued his career as a painter and resumed his involvement in printmaking. 

Gammon was the recipient of numerous grants and awards, and his work was exhibited internationally and in many public collections. His works included portraits of civil rights figures such as Dr. King, entertainers, community activists, and also chronicled areas and events such as the Black Church and The Scottsborough Jury.

In addition to his wife, Gammon is survived by a daughter, Regina Lee and son, Patrick King; sisters, Russe Jackson and Ruth Graham; and three grandchildren.

Services will be held today at the Saint Simon the Cyrenian Episcopal Church. A viewing will take place at 9:30 a.m. and the service will follow at 11 a.m. Interment will be in the Mount Lawn Cemetery, Sharon Hill. The James Hawkins Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Transcription Notes:
Image is a photograph of Reginald Gammon.