Jack Dowling, of Cherry Grove & New York City, Passed Away at 89 on February 24
BY BRUCE-MICHAEL GELBERT
photos by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
1. Jack Dowling & APCG President Panzi's Choice ribbon for "Joseph's Hands," APCG Art Show August 1, 2015
2. Susan Freedner, Sherri Rase, Ruth Freedner, Joyce Yaeger, Dan Clancy & Jack Dowling, reading at the Fire House, September 27, 2008
3. Jack Dowling, SAGE event at Windy Hill, July 21, 2012
4. Brett Roper, Diane Romano, Jack Dowling & SAGE's Michael Adams, SAGE event at Windy Hill July 20, 2013
5. Jack Dowling, CGCAI Honors at the Community House August 18, 2018
6. Tommy DeMastri, Gay Nathan, Joyce Yaeger & Jack Dowling, reading at the Community House July 13, 2019
7. Jack Dowling, Jimmy Fallon, SAGE's Michael Adams, Edrie Ferdun & Jan Felshin, SAGE event at Windy Hill July 26, 2008
8. Jack Dowling, Harold Seeley & SAGE's Michael Adams, SAGE event at Windy Hill July 16, 2011
Distinguished artist and writer Jack Dowling, of Windy Hill in Cherry Grove and Westbeth in the West Village, passed away on February 24, according to Cherry Grove Community Association, Inc. (CGCAI) President Diane Romano. The cause of his death, at Lenox Hill Hospital, was Covid-19, according to Jack's brother, Peter. Born in 1931, Jack was 89 years old. He was predeceased on May 16, 2005 by long-time partner Wallace (Wally) Forstell, who was President of the Cherry Grove Property Owners Association (CGPOA).
An original resident of artists housing Westbeth, conceived in the 1960s, Jack was also its visual arts chair and director of the Westbeth art gallery. Also during the 1960s, he lived and taught art in Positano, Italy. In the 1970s, he was a partner in gay erotica’s Colt Studio.
Jack participated in many events and organizations in the Grove, which he began visiting in 1950, and hosted events at Windy Hill for the Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) and for Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE). He read his work at readings by Grove writers at the Firehouse in 2008 and 2009 and at the Community House in 2019; won Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG) President Thom “Panzi” Hansen’s President’s Choice Ribbon for his painting “Joseph’s Hands” at the APCG Art Show in August 2015; and was awarded one of CGCAI’s Community Honors at the Community House on August 18, 2018 for “his longtime service to the community,” according to Diane.
"Possible memorial services at Westbeth and Cherry Grove will be held at a later date," Peter Dowling added in an email.
Jack will be sorely missed.
Photographer Koitz has been chronicling the gay people and events of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines for more than a decade and a half in work that has appeared in newspapers and been displayed in art shows. Koitz’s clear and sensitive photos find a dramatic setting in a new art book entitled “Gay Fire Island: It’s Good to Be Us,” with foreword by Patrick ...
