Jonathan Leo Fairbanks

Jonathan Fairbanks passed suddenly on the evening of August 1st, 2026 at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Needham, Massachusetts, having become ill at home that morning. He was 93. Jonathan had recently enjoyed attending the 125th Fairbanks Family reunion at the homestead in Dedham, Massachusetts, built by his namesake ancestor, in 1637. For years he was active preserving the house and had great pride in his heritage.

Jonathan was a true Renaissance man, deeply involved in many aspects of art, history, cultural stewardship, natural history and preservation. From childhood he painted the world around him, growing up with a father and relatives as artists. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in painting, he broadened his experience by serving in the U.S. Navy on a destroyer. He then pursued further education in museum curatorial studies and conservation. His professional career was spent associated with cultural institutions, educating and supporting the work of scholars, artists, craftsmen, and those involved in preservation and conservation. He bridged the gap between makers and those who wrote about them, defining the academic study of early American furniture, craft, and material culture. His love of people, art, history, and nature was infectious. He will be greatly missed.

Jonathan was born to Avard Tennyson Fairbanks, a sculptor, and Beatrice Maude Fox in Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of eight boys. He was predeceased by his wife Louisa Eckenbrect, 1930-2020, and by brothers Avard, Eugene, Elliot, and Justin. He is survived by daughters Theresa Louise (Channing Harris), of Hamden, Connecticut, and Hilary Ann (Timothy Burton), of Dedham, Massachusetts and granddaughter Olivia Marion Harris of Hamden, Connecticut. He is also survived by his brothers David, Grant and Virgil Fairbanks and adopted sisters Georgia Fairbanks and Maria Hansen.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend his Funeral Tuesday, August 18th at 1 pm at the Forsythe Chapel at Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts followed by interment in Forest Hills Cemetery. The service and interment will be livestreamed and may be watched by going to www.harborview.live. A reception will follow at the Fairbanks Family Homestead in Dedham, 511 East Street, with parking at the nearby American Legion, 155 Eastern Avenue, Dedham, MA.

Memorial gifts in memory of Jonathan Leo Fairbanks may be made to the Fairbanks Family in America, Inc at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/fairbanksfamilyinamerica/ in support of the restoration and preservation of the Fairbanks House.

Fairbanks had a long and distinguished career in public service with the visual arts and museums. Below are some of the most notable highlights.

Career and Positions

The Katharine Lane Weems Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1970-1999; Director, The Fuller Craft Museum

2012-2017; Editor at Large, The Catalogue of Antiques and Fine Art, 2002; Sr. Vice

President, Antiques America.com, 1999-2001; Associate Curator, in charge of

Conservation, The Winterthur Museum, Delaware, 1961-1970.

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Utah

Master of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania through a joint program with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Master of Arts in American Culture, University of Delaware in the Winterthur Museum Fellowship Program.

Military Service:

Officer, Destroyer Service, Cruiser Division Fourth Atlantic Fleet, US Navy

1953-55; U.S. Naval Reserves, 1955-1961.

Paintings and Exhibitions

Jonathan’s paintings have been represented in One-Man exhibitions at the Saint Botolph Club, Boston, and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, (2004) Hagerstown, MD. His work was represented in exhibitions at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, the Alhambra in Spain and Haley and Steele Gallery, Boston, 2001, 2002. His artwork is in a number of collections including the National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., the Springville Museum, Utah, and the Boston Public Library. He created a large Mural of pre-historic plants and animals, Hall of Earth History, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel University, 1957.

Curator and author/contributor to numerous exhibitions. Below is a small selection:

"Becoming a Nation, Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State," which toured eight cities from April 2003 until January 2005.

“Paul Revere and 1768: His Portrait and the Liberty Bowl, New England Silver & Silversmithing, 1620-1815.” Boston, The Colonial Society, 2001.

"America's Measure of Mankind: Proportions and Harmonics," Smithsonian Studies in American Art, Winter, 1988.

Introduction to “Paul Revere-- Artisan, Businessman, and Patriot: The Man Behind the Myth. Boston, 1988.

Preface and contributions to catalogue and exhibition: "The Art that is Life," The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920, MFA, Boston, 1987.

“Paul Revere’s Boston 1735-1818”; New England Begins, Seventeenth Century America, 1982.

Glass Today. MFA

American Studio Furniture. MFA

Frontier America: The Far West. MFA

Introduction and contributions to: American Figurative Sculpture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,1986.

"Contemporary American Ceramics: Of Patterns on Earth," in Directions in Contemporary Ceramics, MFA, Boston, 1984.

“Please Be Seated;” Commissioned contemporary furniture inspired by historical examples. 1975 - on-going, MFA Boston.

Selected additional publications.

American Furniture, 1620 to the Present, editor/author, with Elizabeth Bidwell Bates, New York, 1981.

"Craft Processes and Images: Visual Sources for the Study of the Craftsman," The Craftsman in Early America, N.Y., 1984.

"Crafts and American Museums," in The Eloquent Object, Tulsa,1987.

"Fakes and Fakers," The Walpole Society Notebook, 1986.

Selected Honors and Awards

The Iris Foundation Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Decorative Arts by the Bard Graduate Center.

Fuller Craft Museum honored as a Luminary.

The President's Award from Old Sturbridge Village

The tenth anniversary Antiques Digest 20/21 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Ellen Banning Ayer Award for Contributions to Arts and Culture.

The Society of Arts and Crafts; Lifetime Achievement Medal

Victorian Society in America, New England Chapter, Award for Conservation and an

Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field

Robert G. Lord Award for Excellence in Historical Studies; Emmanuel College, Boston; The Charles F. Montgomery Award, the Decorative Arts Society.

The Urban Glass Award for Exceptional Museum Glass Exhibition.

Video Award for Adult Public Programming

Trustee /Board Member/Fellow

Board advisor for the Preservation of the White House.

President of the Decorative Arts Trust.

President of The Fairbanks House.

Council Member of The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities; .

Fellow of The Pilgrim Society

The Saint Botolph Club

Member of: American Institute for Conservation; American Crafts Council (Hon); Shirley Eustace House; Paul Revere House; Forest Hills Cemetery; Wayside Inn; Charles K Connick Glass Foundation; Haystack School of Crafts; Society of Arts and Crafts; The Studio Potter; The Wayside Inn; The Massachusetts Historical Society; The Colonial Society of Massachusetts; The American Antiquarian Society; National Trust for Historic Preservation; American Society of Interior Designers; Massachusetts Historical Society.

Teaching

Adjunct Professor: Boston University, American and New England Studies, 1971-1982; Wellesley College, American Art,1981.

Lecturer: Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME, 1965, 1967, 1981; Art History Dept., University of Delaware, 1968-1969; Art and Art History, Brigham Young University (extension division); Art History Dept. University of Delaware, 1968-1969; Houston Baptist College, Preservation Conferences,1966-1969, Lecturer and Symposium Chairman; and Yale University Art Gallery, Guest Lecturer. Taught painting classes for the Norwood Art Association.