Lauffer, Lance
NAME: Lance Lauffer
Biography:
Lance Roy Lauffer, 31, Award-winning Artist
March 02, 1988|By JIM NICHOLSON, Daily News Staff Writer
Lance Roy Lauffer, a rising young professional artist, died Monday of liver failure. He was 31 and lived in Center City.
An artist whose principal medium was oils, Lauffer had won numerous awards and had been exhibited frequently in the Philadelphia area since 1984. Until he became ill, he had been preparing to do a series of paintings of Philadelphia cityscapes.
"He had a special magic about him. He really was not of this planet. He was always kind of special. He saw everything through his artist's eyes," said William Krumboldt, a friend who also managed Lauffer's business affairs.
"All the good he saw in people reflected in what he painted. He was one of the harmless, artistic creatures you meet in this world."
Krumboldt said that on most of his paintings, Lauffer prefaced his signature with the words; "There is more to life than the physical eye can see."
One of Lauffer's paintings is on permanent display at the Please Touch Museum at the Franklin Institute.
Suzanne Gross, whose gallery at 1720 Sansom St. recently exhibited some of Lauffer's work, said: "He was extremely gifted, with a lot of promise. I was just waiting for him to develop . . . He was a sweet young man who was not difficult. He was very independent-minded about what he wanted to do, but in some ways very receptive to ideas."
She added, "He was really an artist, who would get up in the morning with a toothbrush in one hand and a paint brush in the other."
Born in Vandergrift, Pa., Lauffer attended Vandergrift High School and later the Art Institute of New Kensington. He received a full two-year scholarship to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Survivors include his parents, Patricia and Virgil Lauffer; and his grandparents.
A spokesman for the Ron Piselli Funeral Chapels said services would be announced at a later date.
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Date of Birth: 3/5/1956
Date of Death (delete if non-applicable): 2/29/1988
Age at Death (delete if non-applicable): 31
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