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Paul J. Kolasinski (1930-2017): Blade artist known for zoo murals, too

Paul J. Kolasinski (1930-2017): Blade artist known for zoo murals, too

Paul J. Kolasinski, an artist whose drawings, cartoons, and watercolors illustrated articles and Sunday magazine covers in The Blade in the 1980s, died on his birthday — March 24 — in Ohio Living Swan Creek. He was 87.

He died of complications from Parkinson’s disease and had been in declining health for the last year, said his daughter Lori Chappuies.

Mr. Kolasinski continued to paint after he retired from The Blade in 1989.

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He worked on murals for the Toledo Zoo after leaving the newspaper and was active well into his 80s.

“He was always painting,” Mrs. Chappuies said. “Maybe two years ago he cut back. He had everything out in his studio at their home. But it was getting harder for him to do painting.”

He was born in 1930 and grew up in North Toledo. While a youngster, he took art classes in the downtown studio of Theodore Beane, who was the first dean of the Art Institute of Chicago and former director of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts.

After graduating from Woodward High School in 1948, he studied for a year and a half at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He met the former Lois Hedberg, also a student, at the academy. They were married June 13, 1953.

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Mr. Kolasinski entered the Army and was sent to Korea, where he was a cook. He served two years and returned to Toledo. He worked briefly at the former Lasalle’s department store before joining The Blade on Oct. 23, 1953, to work as an editorial artist.

He left the newspaper in 1965 to become art director of Craft Master Corp., which made paint-by-number kits. He left the company in 1980 after it moved to Michigan and he returned to The Blade.

As an editorial artist, he provided cartoons and graphics to illustrate stories and columns. His work included drawings for the Peach, Behind The News, and Sunday television listings sections, as well as the Sunday magazine, which occasionally featured his watercolor paintings on the cover.

“He did cartoon-type work in the paper wherever they needed them,” his daughter said.

Mr. Kolasinski’s art for the Toledo Zoo included creating the design for the mural on the pedestrian bridge over the Anthony Wayne Trail and murals in the aviary and the Diversity of Life exhibit.

He was a member of the Toledo Artist Club, Northwestern Ohio Watercolor Society, Ohio Watercolor Society, and the Tile Club in downtown Toledo.

Mrs. Chappuies said landscapes were often her father’s work, but he also did portraits and boating scenes. His pieces were displayed in exhibits throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s.

Surviving are his wife, Lois; daughters, Paula Dunphy, Sally Mincks, Mary Ellen Kolasinski, and Lori Chappuies, nine grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life is planned for the summer.

Tributes are suggested to the National Alliance on Mental Illness or American Parkinson Disease Association.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published April 3, 2017, 4:00 a.m.

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