The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 49, December 3, 2006, Article 9

OBITUARY WILLIAM LOUTH OF MEDALLIC ART COMPANY

On November 30 the Danbury, CT News-Times published a lengthy obituary
of Bill Louth, former head of Medallic Art Company.  The reporter
interviewed former MACo employees Hugo Greco and Dick Johnson.  Here
are some excerpts:

"William T. Louth, a former Danbury medal manufacturer whose company's
customers included U.S. presidents, Pulitzer Prize winners and
championship athletes, died Nov. 17 on Cape Cod. He was 80 years old
and lived in West Harwich, Mass.

"Louth was the president and director of Medallic Art Co. in New York
City from 1961 to 1976, having joined the firm, which was owned by his
uncle, in 1946 after service in the Navy."

"William T. Louth greatly influenced medallic art in America for over
two decades," said D. Wayne Johnson, who served as the company's director
of research from 1966 to 1977. "He supported the high artistic standards
for the firm while introducing medallic innovations. His leadership
dominated the field, up to and including the American Bicentennial."

"Three of the inaugural medals were created while Louth headed the
firm, a task that took him to Washington, D.C., to work with the
incoming presidents and their inauguration committees, and ultimately
to the White House for the presentation of a special gold version of
the medallion to the new president.

"He could have gone alone, but he always took the sculptor who designed
the medal," Johnson said. "He was always concerned with giving the
sculptor credit."

"Louth grew up in Kokomo, Ind. At 18, he entered the Navy's V-12
education program, attending Purdue, Notre Dame and DePauw universities.
After World War II ended in 1945, he refused an officer's commission,
preferring instead to serve as a seaman at Camp Shoemaker in Livermore,
Calif., until his discharge in June 1946.

"A month later, the 20-year-old Louth joined Medallic Art Co. in New
York, run at the time by his uncle Clyde Trees. Trees had worked there
since 1919 and shepherded the company through the lean years of the
Depression, when commissions were few and far between, and through
World War II, when bronze, the primary component of medals, was in
short supply because of military needs."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

Dick Johnson adds: "The article on was written by E-Sylum subscriber
John Perro, a fellow member of the Litchfield Coin Club, after he
interviewed both Hugo Greco and myself.  The article and picture
appeared on page one of the second (B) section with long carry-over
to second page."

[Many thanks to John and Dick for this great article on an
important numismatic figure.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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