Joseph William Wagner

Joseph William Wagner of Chestertown, MD, died on April 24, 2015, at Easton Memorial Hospital. He was 81. He was born on August 27, 1933, in Elmhurst, NY, the son of the late Joseph Francis and Agnes Hirsch Wagner. He graduated from Brooklyn Tech High School and went on to attend the Parsons School of Design where he earned a Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in Graphic Design. Following graduation, Mr. Wagner worked as a graphic designer with renowned Austrian artist Joseph Binder of the Bauhaus School. Some of his work of the time hangs in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1954, he was married to Bonita Hill Wagner for 15 years, and moved to Trumansburg, NY. He opened a graphic design studio there and serviced clients such as The Grange League Federation, AGWAY, and General Electric. He spent his leisure time in his five-acre vegetable garden and in Triumphs on the Watkins Glen Racetrack. After returning to Westchester, NY, in the mid-1960s, he married Lydia Aspinwall of Staten Island, NY, on August 23, 1969, and moved to Rowayton, CT. There, he opened Joseph W. Wagner Associates, Inc., and designed award-winning projects for MBI, Inc. and Bronson Collectibles, among others. He also joined the Rowayton Volunteer Fire Department where he became recording secretary and an ambulance driver. He moved to Chestertown, MD, in 1987, opened another graphic design studio, and continued to ply his trade, although semi-retired, until a year before his death. Mr. Wagner was a model aeronautics enthusiast and a pilot. He served as president and on the boards of The Brooklyn Skyscrapers, The National Free Flight Society, and The Eastern Free Flight Conference, all of which are model airplane organizations. He also made the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team, which competed in Czechoslovakia. Mr. Wagner was an expert cook and an avid gardener. In addition to his wife Lydia of 45 years, he is survived by his five children, Michael, Janet, Robert (Carla), Thomas, and Edward (Doris) Wagner; a sister: Carol (Eugene) Rossler, along with six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; three nieces; and two cat kids. Memorial services will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2015, at 11:00 a.m,. at Fellows, Helfenbein, and Newnam Funeral Home, 130 Speer Road, Chestertown where a reception will follow in the Dogwood Reception Center. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Academy of Model Aeronautics, 5161 East Memorial Dr., Muncie, IN 47302.

Joseph William Wagner

August 27, 1933 - April 24, 2015