- John Kassay
Dr. John Kassay (b. 1919 in Bayonne, NJ - d. Feb. 17, 2004 in San Bruno, CA) was an expert in Shaker and Windsor furniture as well as a skilled craftsman, draftsman and photographer. He published "The Book of Shaker Furniture" in 1980 and "The Book of American Windsor Furniture : Styles and Technologies" in 1998.cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/24/BAG69BFUGC1.DTL |title=John Kassay -- expert on Shaker furniture |date=February 24, 2005 |work=
San Francisco Chronicle |pages=B-7|author=Tanya Schevitz |accessdate=]Early Life
Kassay earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star while serving in Gen.
George S. Patton 's Third Army in theSecond World War ..He married Mary Brunner after the war and attended
East Central University (B.A. 1949) andPittsburg State University in Kansas (M.A. 1950) on theGI Bill . He completed a doctorate in education atWashington State University in 1970.Career
Kassay taught industrial arts in junior and senior high schools in Kansas and, for over thirty years, at
San Francisco State University , where he was professor in the Department of Design and Industry. Kassay taught courses in woodworking technology and construction at San Francisco State, running "probably the finest woodworking program in America" according to Tom McFadden in Cabinet Maker magazine.cite journal |url=http://www.cabinetmakeronline.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=13104 |title=Reverberating influence |author=Tom McFadden |work=Cabinet Maker |month=July |year=2006|accessdate=2008-09-04]In 1980, Kassay published "The Book of Shaker Furniture" to wide acclaim. The book featured his own illustrations based on years of research. The book was universally praised for its exquisitely rendered and finely detailed drawings of Shaker furniture.
When former President Jimmy Carter received Kassay's book on Shaker furniture in late 1983,. he wrote at the bottom of the official typed reply letter: "I've long admired the beautiful simplicity of Shaker furniture and have made several of their pieces myself. Merry Christmas. JC."
Kassay later turned his attention to American Windsor furniture and produced an elegant and informative guide to the Windsor style. He continued to lecture and publish on both styles after being awarded emeritus status in 1987.
In addition to his books, Professor Kassay also was a frequent contributor to woodworking and industrial arts journals.
Notes
Works
*cite book |author=Kassay, John |title=The Book of Shaker Furniture |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location=Amherst |year=1980 |pages= |isbn=0-87023-275-4 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=
*cite book |author=Kassay, John |title=The Book of American Windsor Furniture: Styles and Technologies | url = http://www.umass.edu/umpress/spr_98/kassay.html | publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location=Amherst |year=1998 |pages= |isbn=1-55849-137-6 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=External Links:
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
