A death

Walter Angst, the furniture conservator whose many contributions to
the field, including his involvement in the founding of the Wooden
Artifacts Group, earned him Honorary Membership of AIC in 1988, died
on August 13 of heart and kidney ailments at the age of 79.

Walter came from his native Switzerland to the USA in 1951. After
working as a cabinetmaker in a Washington, DC antique business, he
joined the Smithsonian Institution as furniture conservator with the
Conservation Analytical Laboratory in 1968, where he worked till his
retirement in 1984. Walter also was one of the founding members of
the Washington Conservation Guild.

Besides his activities in furniture conservation, Walter was an
authority on heraldry, a subject in which he published extensively.
Those who had the pleasure of working with him, also knew him for
his great comic talents, which he often demonstrated with humorous
lectures and poems created for special occasions. AIC members who
attended his talk on the use of dry water as a conservation
treatment material will never forget that presentation.

Walter is survived by his wife of 53 years, Inge, two daughters, a
sister, and four grandchildren.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:14
                  Distributed: Monday, August 16, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-14-001
                                  ***