Driscoll, Edgar J. Jr. of Boston, Mass, died peacefully at home on November 1, 2011 at the age of 91. Born in Boston to Katherine Rooney Driscoll and Edgar J. Driscoll Sr., he was the second son of their seven children. He attended the Richard Olney School in West Roxbury and the Cambridge School of Weston, Class of ’38. He went on to study art at the University of Iowa under Grant Wood, transferring to the Yale School of Fine Arts, Class of 1943. He served as a Private in the Army Air Force in WWII. He began his newspaper career with the Boston Herald where he began writing features and serving as his own illustrator. In 1945 he joined the Boston Globe as a general assignment reporter. He became the Globe’s art critic in 1947, and was at that time, the only full time art critic employed by any New England newspaper. He covered New England and New York activities. In addition to his art reporting he wrote a regular Sunday column and Art Notes during the week. He contributed to many periodicals, lectured on art and judged many major group shows during his career at the Globe and later, as a volunteer in the Boston and Cambridge arts communities.
In the mid 1970’s he became Feature Writer at the Globe, creating, researching, and developing articles for the Sunday Magazine section and for the daily paper. His knowledge of the people and places of Boston led to another career at the Globe in the late 1970’s as advanced obituary writer. His love of people and his love of detail honed as a reporter made him a unique portraitist of their lives. Blessed with an Irish wit and a love of storytelling, his eternal optimism and humor enriched many people and their lives.
He retired from the Globe in 1990 and was served on the Board of the Cambridge Art Association for fifteen years. He was a member of the St. Botolph Club, the Yale Club, The Cambridge Art Association, the Friends of the Public Garden, and a proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum. He was predeceased by his wife of 54 years, Elizabeth Watts Driscoll. He leaves one brother William M. Driscoll of Jaffrey, NH, three children: Edgar J. Driscoll III of Boston, Elizabeth Conklin of Chester Springs, Pa, and Mrs. Abigail Lee of Potsdam, NY, two sons in law, Kevin R. Conklin and Mark T. Lee, four grandchildren Olivia W. Lee, Katharine H.J Conklin, Samuel L. Lee and Elizabeth P. Conklin, and twenty-eight loving nieces and nephews, their spouses and children. He touched many people with his life and love, which was returned tenfold. He was blessed, beloved by many and will be missed deeply by all.
Visitation at the Family Residence, 75 Hancock St. Boston, Sunday from 4-7. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Funeral Mass in St. Joseph Church, 68 William Cardinal O’Connell Way Boston, Monday at 10 AM. Interment Private. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to friends of the Public Garden or to the Cambridge Art Association.