Lester M. Chace papers, 1931-2007

A native of Pekin, Illinois, Lester Merton Chace, Jr. graduated from Columbia College in 1950. At the College, he served as art editor and managing editor of the yearbook, Columbian; was a member of staff at the humor magazine, Jester; worked at the student radio station WKCR; and was a member of the University Christian Society. Chace attended the Graduate School of Painting and Sculpture for two years.

As a student in 1949, Chace made a portrait of Columbia College Dean Harry J. Carman, who was soon to retire. The portrait appeared in color in the 1950 Columbian. After graduation, Chace continued to focus on portraiture and some of his works were commissioned for and donated to the University. Chace was commissioned by Marcellus Hartley Dodge to paint a portrait of Lou Gehrig (1954), which hung over the Hartley Hall fireplace. A year later, Chace's copy of John Trumbull's portrait of Alexander Hamilton hung in in the Columbia College Admissions Office. In 1956, Chace's copy of Irving R. Wiles's portrait of the late Frederick Coykendall was presented to the Columbia University Press. In 1964, Edmund A. Prentis presented University President Grayson Kirk with Chace's portrait of George Washington, which hung in room 210 Low Library. In addition to these works, the Art Properties Department also holds Chace's portraits of Clement Clarke Moore, Frederick A.P. Barnard and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Outside of Columbia, Chace painted portraits of the Malcolm Forbes family, presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, and first ladies Betty Ford and Jacqueline Kennedy, which once hung at the White House. Chace died in 2005.