Gordon, Glenn 76, a dedicated woodworker, photographer and writer, died peacefully in St. Paul on April 19, following two weeks of home hospice care. Born in the Bronx, Glenn moved with his family to the San Fernando Valley at age 10. He briefly attended the University of California and then, as he said, "squandered" his youth in 1960s Berkeley. Later, in Chicago, he immersed himself in the art and craft of woodworking. He fabricated sculpture for the renowned Martin Puryear as well as designed and crafted fine custom furniture. For the past 20 years, Glenn occupied a humble, carefully curated apartment on Highland Parkway, where he displayed art by friends and beautiful functional objects. He read omnivorously and wrote articles for local magazines and national craft and design journals. A deft, hungry-eyed photographer, he documented the late life of sculptor Charles Biederman and captured the characters and visual comedy of the State Fair. Glenn attended a monthly reading group of scholars and artists who valued his incisive commentary--generous, humorous or biting, as the topic required--and his homemade bread. Until cancer treatment diminished his prodigious energy, he continued to make furniture and sculpture in a University Ave. studio shared with artist David Swanson, who helped Glenn navigate his final weeks. Glenn loved, in no particular order: cats, jazz, women, pasta, Cuban cigars, a neat single-malt scotch, David Foster Wallace, biking, walking River Road, his mother's honey cake recipe, baseball teams with "long and tragicomic histories" and the kindness of friends, who are numerous and already missing his warmth, grace and conversational brilliance. He is survived by daughter Nada Gordon, New York; stepdaughter Morna Rose Brothers, Chicago; and siblings Adrienne Bailin, Sarasota, Vanessa Gordon-Marcus, San Diego, and Tracy Gordon, Grants Pass, Ore. Memorial to be announced on CaringBridge (glenn2).

Published on April 28, 2019