Rick Cartwright Obituary, Death – The community of the University of Saint Francis is in mourning over the loss of Rick Cartwright, a much-loved colleague and friend who had a positive impact on the lives of numerous students over the course of his 42-year tenure at USF. After a courageous fight against cancer, Cartwright passed away on Thursday, May 25.
Since 1975 until his retirement in 2017, Cartwright served as a member of the faculty of the institution. He was the first dean of the School of Creative Arts, which opened in 2004, and he continued in that role until the day he retired. Both the Mimi and Ian Rolland Art and Visual Communication Center and the restoration of the Bass Mansion, which is now known as Brookside, were under his supervision when they were completed in 2010. He had a pivotal role in the creation of the vision for, as well as the development of, USF Downtown, which first opened its doors in August of 2016.
Cartwright was able to find a lot of people who were willing to support him, and he collaborated closely with the former president of USF, Sister M. Elise Kriss, as well as the late trustee Ian Rolland. Cartwright was an active painter in addition to being a trustee for the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and a founding member of Artlink Inc. He was honored with both the Sears Foundation Teaching Excellence and Leadership Award as well as the Lilly Scholar designation.
Cartwright was honored twice by Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne: the first time, in 2002, the organization bestowed upon him the Esther Ritz Collyer Award for Lifetime Achievement in Art Education; the second time, in 2014, the organization presented him with the Keager Award for Outstanding Arts Educator. He was a member of the commission for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, where he also served as chair of the Ethics Committee, an institutional evaluator, and an institutional evaluator.
