This video tribute posted just a few days ago and reminded me that we’d never posted a tribute to Larry Zabel after his passing this past September. You can read more about his life here.
He was a truly gifted western artist. She Who Must Be Obeyed and I had a chance to meet him a few years back at a fundraiser for the MSU Library system in Bozeman. For some unfathomable reason I had been asked to be one of a dozen or so speakers at an event where donors chose a topic they’d like to learn more about via a round table session. I had been asked to speak about creating a web presence or something close to that.
Lo and behold one of the guests at our table was Mr. Zabel; he was neat as a pin dressed in his western suit, smiling and gracious. As we introduced ourselves around the table he identified himself as simply Larry, said he was ‘an artist of sorts’, and was profoundly interested and conversant that evening.
Later that evening the event organizer asked us what we thought of Mr. Zabel; it was only at that point did we come to realize who the kindly cowboy was at our table.
This profoundly generous, gifted artist donated no doubt hundreds of thousands of dollars of art to various groups over the years, notably the Madison River Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Montana’s own Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
He will be missed.
