Noted maritime artist Jim Clary dies
Artist was known for detailed paintings of freighters and famous ships such as the Titanic and the Edmund Fitzgerald
Noted maritime artist Jim Clary dies Artist was known for detailed paintings of freighters and famous ships such as the Titanic and the Edmund Fitzgerald Check out this story on thetimesherald.com: https://bwne.ws/2GszIVd
Bob Gross, Times Herald Published 12:27 p.m. ET April 2, 2018 | Updated 1:28 p.m. ET April 3, 2018
Jim Clary, of St. Clair, with fragments from a Lockheed P-38D Lightning fighter plane that crashed in October 1941 in a field near Richmond.(Photo: BOB GROSS/TIMES HERALD)Buy Photo
Noted maritime artist Jim "Cap'n Jim" Clary died Saturday. He was 78.
Clary, who had galleries in St. Clair and Port Huron, was famous for his depictions of shipwrecks such as the Titanic and the Edmund Fitzgerald. He was the official artist for the 1981 search headed by Jack Grimm to locate the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic.
Kenny McKay said Clary, who had been a professional artist since 1968, was his friend.
"He was a good friend of mine, and he was an author, artist and historian," McKay said. "He was well liked and he liked everybody."
McKay said he volunteers at the St. Clair Chamber of Commerce, and the chamber office used to be next to Cap'n Jim's Gallery in the Riverview Plaza.
"I would rap on the wall and let him know the coffee was ready," he said.
Clary's gallery had been in St. Clair for 25 years until he moved to Port Huron in 1996. He moved back to St. Clair in 2011.
A big booster of the area, Clary just recently was using his Facebook page to document the ongoing renovation of the St. Clair Inn
Retired jeweler Pat Coughlin said he had known Clary since he started American Diamond Importers in 1989 in the plaza. He said Clary lived an adventurous life.
"He traveled a lot," he said. "His big thing was the Edmund Fitzgerald, did a lot of renderings on that.
"He did so much on the Great Lakes and the shipping along the river that everybody loves so much."
Coughlin said he took a trip on the Paul R. Tregurtha a few years ago and was not surprised to see Clary's artwork on the walls of the freighter.
"They had a bunch of his prints all over the dining room, the living room," he said. "It was really something to see."
Clary annually created a Christmas print that he sold with the proceeds going to the Salvation Army and to St. Joseph's Academy in Richmond.
"Obviously, he was full of life with a lot of great stories," Coughlin said.
Clary was the author of several books including "The Last True Story of the Titanic," "Superstitions of the Sea," "Ladies of the Lakes" and "The 1913 Storms."
In 2012, Clary, his brother Ben and two others used metal detectors to find pieces of a War II-era fighter plane that crashed in a farm field in Casco Township. The plane, a P-38D Lightning, was piloted by 2nd Lt. Alfred Voss, a native of Elgin, Illinois, assigned to the 94th Pursuit Squadron stationed at Selfridge Air Base.
Clary, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, told the Times Herald he felt a kinship with the pilot.
"I knew this guy died in doing his duty for the country, even though war hadn't been declared or anything, but very shortly thereafter came Pearl Harbor," he said.
Artist Jim Clary with a print he created to help the Salvation Army and St. Joseph's Academy. (Photo: Bob Gross/Times Herald)
"It was something that I felt good about because he is finally going to be getting some honor, some well-deserved honor."
Both Coughlin and McKay said they'll miss Clary.
"He was a very social guy," Coughlin said. "He liked to hang out at the mall and talk to everybody who came by. He is going to be missed. He was just a very colorful character."
Todd Clary, one of his five children, said he had been diagnosed with cancer in February 2017. He said the family is doing as well as can be expected.
"That career was his whole life, it led him to become the renowned historian of all the Great Lakes lore and mystery and that made it's what into the artwork he sold," Todd Clary said.
He said his father was born in Burlington, Iowa, and raised in Richmond. Clary said his father made a big impact on the community of St. Clair.
"He was definitely a well known person and figurehead and character around the city there," he said.
Visitation will be 5-8 p.m. Saturday and 2-8 p.m. Sunday at Young Colonial Chapel Funeral Home, 4061 St. Clair Highway, East China with a rosary at 7 p.m. Sunday. The funeral mass will be 10 a.m. Monday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 57575 Romeo Plank Road, Ray Township.
Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.
More online
Jim Clary's art is online at http://www.jclary.com/
He also is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Jim-Clary-636630236422621/
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