Tribute to Tom Armstrong

Thomas N. Armstrong III joined the Garden Conservancy board of directors in 1991 and shortly thereafter became President, then Vice-Chairman, and, in 2007, Chairman. Throughout his tenure he provided outstanding leadership in a variety of areas, including expanding our membership and Fellows programs, successfully completing a $15 million endowment campaign, and increasing our portfolio of preservation projects from a small handful to sixteen, the latest additions being the gardens of Pearl Fryar and Elizabeth Lawrence. 

 

Most important, however, was his commitment of time and devotion to the extended Garden Conservancy family.  His infectious humor enlivened everything Tom touched, as did a strong sense of creativity, which was demonstrated by his glass house and garden on Fishers Island, New York. We send our deepest condolences to his wife, Bunty: children, Tom, Eliot, Whitney, and Amory; sister, Susan Watts; other family members; and many friends.

 

 

Tom’s passion for the Conservancy was closely linked to his own fascination with the art of gardening. The development of his personal garden on Fishers Island and of the new glass house at its center was a creative obsession and a magnificent accomplishment. Click here to see a slideshow of his garden.

 

 

A Singular Vision: Architecture Art Landscape, a new book by Tom Armstrong on his magnificent house and garden on Fishers Island, is being published later this year. Click here to order a copy.

 

The short tributes that follow below include links to fuller statements and to articles published in major newspapers and magazines.

 

A sampling of tributes to Tom Armstrong:

“Tom loved to share his garden. It was the highlight of the summer to make the pilgrimage to Fishers Island, hop off the boat, and enter his world.  The circuit began in the woods, with the hush of the Japanese garden; wound around the edge of the property, with its startlingly beautiful water views; and then again into the trees, where secluded rooms and spectacular fountains lay in wait.  There was always something new to see, and Tom was like a proud parent showing off his offspring.  (Which he was—a proud parent—to his actual, beloved children!) When you got back on the ferry, it was with a sense of the fullest aesthetic and emotional experience, a happy exhaustion from visual stimulation and enjoyment.” 
- Antonia Adezio, Garden Conservancy president, June 29, 2011. Click here to read the full comments delivered at a celebration of Tom Armstrong’s life at Saint Bartholomew’s Church in New York City.

"His infectious enthusiasm was a pleasure for all concerned and his efforts and energy spread the word of the Conservancy across the country. He was a devoted gardener in his own right and it was a pleasure to serve with him,"

- Frank Cabot, Garden Conservancy  founder and chairman emeritus, June 28, 2011. Read also a December 6, 2000 toast by Frank Cabot, when Tom Armstrong became Vice-Chairman of the Garden Conservancy.

“Tom was a small ‘d’ democrat. He believed that anyone from any background was capable of being a great artist or making a great garden.”

- Bill Noble, Garden Conservancy director of preservation, June 28, 2011. Click here for the full comments.

 

"Tom - I've admired your advice and presence in my life. You have helped me immensely in understanding the art of the garden."

- Dick Lighty, December 6, 2000, on the occasion of a dinner by the board and friends of the Garden Conservancy saluting Tom Armstrong "for his extraordinary leadership in shaping the future of American gardens, one garden at a time."

 

(Photo on right: "The Garden is Open" in Japanese)

“A toast to Thomas Armstrong!

Your savoir faire and charm so strong,

Your special bow ties, your service long,

Has kept our Garden Conservancy on track,

With wit and grace, you have such a knack

A toast to Thomas Armstrong!

- Barbara Paul Robinson, at December 6, 2000 dinner in honor of Tom Armstrong
(see details above)

“Anyone who’s ever known him

Marvels at his wit and skills

He has as many talents

As he has daffodils”

- Sue and Gerry Seitz, at December 6, 2000 dinner in honor of Tom Armstrong
(see details above)

“While Tom Armstrong will be remembered foremost as the Whitney's popular director, and later as a strong supporter of the Garden Conservancy and its tireless chairman, his many friends and colleagues will always remember him for his wonderful sense of humor and fun. For with Tom, one never knew. One time it was a silly hat, another time he showed his love for little windup toys, and then there was the time he spent growing tomatoes on the terrace of his fifth floor office and selling them on the sidewalk at a vegetable stand. And always with a bow tie.”

—R. Scudder Smith, June 28, 2011. Click here to read the full Antiques and the Arts article.

 

“He was brilliant at bringing together coalitions of people to acquire artworks, for which we had a minimal acquisition budget. We still have works coming in that he negotiated as gifts years ago.”

- Adam D. Weinberg, director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, who once worked for Tom Armstrong, in a New York Times obituary, June 22, 2011

(Photo: presentation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's award for Organizational Excellence to the Garden Conservancy, December 2009. The award is, in many ways, itself a tribute to Tom Armstrong's leadership over twenty years.)

 

"He served a very important purpose for the museum. He was extremely well known in the art world everywhere, not just in New York, but Europe and Asia. He was a very charming man, very daring, full of ideas. He was somebody that people noticed and enjoyed being with. He made a difference because of his presence here, and the museum became very well known around the world and still is. That was very important—to get off to a good start."

- Milton Fine, a member of the Andy Warhol Museum's board, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 23, 2011

 

“Inadvertently, he fulfilled an early aspiration: He arranged color, texture, shape, line and materials into a total environmental canvas, a complex and abstract painting that happens to be alive.  Armstrong became the artist he wanted to be.”

- Joseph Giovannini, Architectural Digest, October 2010, in a feature article about Tom Armstrong’s house on Fishers Island

 

"Tom Armstrong was fun, and he was capable of meeting difficult situations with wisdom and humor. As a former colleague remarked, 'Tom’s capacity to be frivolous and serious, and conservative and forward-thinking always kept one in a state of shock, awe, and bemusement.' ”

- Jay E. Cantor, Maine Antique Digest, August 2011, in an "appreciation" of Thomas Newton Armstrong III

 

GUEST BOOK
Click here to add your own comments and tributes to Tom Armstrong.

 

1. Rick Ahlgren says:

June 30, 2011 at 8:39 p.m.

 

Sorry to hear about Mr. Armstrong. While I never met him, I did read about him in the Conservancy’s newsletters. His contributions to preserving beautiful gardens will always be appreciated.

 

My condolences to the family, and to the Garden Conservancy.

 

 

2. Nancy Goodwin says:

July 1, 2011 at 1:40 a.m.

 

Tom Armstrong was a remarkable man—a gentleman and scholar with sense of humor. He appreciated all of nature and those who care about the future of this country and those small patches of land tended by dedicated gardeners. I will never forget him and will remain grateful for the encouragement he gave to me. We have lost a treasure.

 

 

3. Graham Arader says:

July 1, 2011 at 2:19 a.m.

 

My amazing friend, Tom Armstrong

 

My dear friend, Tom Armstrong, passed away last Monday, June 20.

 

Very simply Tom was the most exciting director of any Philadelphia Museum in the 20th century. He lead the spectacular renovation of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, charmed everyone in the city and brought joy to all that he met with his style, humor and alluring empathy.

 

When my parents would return from some event at the Academy, my mother would still be glowing from the fun that Tom had provided everyone that evening. Philadelphia can be a very tough town on boring Museum Directors cutting them up into little pieces and flinging them into the Schuylkill River. But that was NEVER the case with Tom Armstrong. Everyone adored him.

 

My father, who was on the board, would say that Tom’s ability it engage Bonnie Winterstein, Lois McNeil, Dodo Hamilton and Lenore Annenberg was something that no one else could have done. Those four elegant, fiercely independent women supported his dream of bringing the Pennsylvania Academy back to the original 1876 vision of Frank Furness.

 

My father, then Secretary of Commerce of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, inspired by Tom found a way to get the State to contribute $2,000,000 to finish the project. One day he saw the Governor’s wife, Muriel, blithely walking down Broad Street, saw an opportunity and ushered her into the Academy to be given a precipitously organized tour. She fell in love with the project and would not let the Governor go to sleep that night until he promised her that he would find the money from the state’s Bicentennial funds.

 

Without question it is the most beautiful and significant 19th century Museum building in the Western Hemisphere.

 

And then the dark day occurred in 1976. My mother was broken hearted, devastated at the news that Tom was leaving to become the director of the Whitney Museum in New York City. No one in Philadelphia could believe it. We had taken him to our bosom and now he was leaving for that money grubbing city to the North.

 

It was painful for everyone because Tom’s love of life brought happiness to everyone. His sense of what was truly important and what was pompous was perfect. We loved him for that.

 

New Yorkers have been taking from Philadelphians ever since the Erie Canal opened in 1825 and Andrew Jackson took the Bank from Nicholas Biddle in 1832. Even in my field of cartography, many Philadelphia masters moved to New York at the height of their careers. It’s horrible AND RELENTLESS. Very simply New Yorkers on the whole elect better Mayors and that makes a profound difference over time.

 

Even the writer of this blog left at the age of 44 abandoning his amazing home and grounds in Villanova designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and a follower of Edwin Luytens.

 

In New York Tom did a spectacular job at the Whitney and turned it into a national museum. He quickly realized that the Met was going to get the majority of rich New Yorkers and found a way to bring in collectors from all over the United States to support his vision of American Art.

 

Then one amazing day about 25 years ago, Tom decided to start collecting from me the works of art that were my passion – John James Audubon, Mark Catesby, Basil Besler and even a map or two. As word got out it added immeasurably to the allure and stature of my business giving it true legitimacy. As with everything, he collected with humor and genius. The end product was brilliant in every instance.

 

And, as always, the women working with me at the time, including my first wife, LIVED for the thrill of being with Tom and watching him collect. He just knew how to listen and make them laugh. He was perfect.

 

Then one day Tom decided to help me join a Club here in New York City that was far, far beyond my station. Somehow he and another close friend found a way to get me right up to the stage of an interview with the admissions committee.

 

With only ten minutes to go, it was time for me to find the one suit from my Yale days still in my closet that had not been worn in years.

 

HORRORS!!!!

 

Moths had eaten quarter size holes in my pants so that the skin of my legs clearly showed through in 30 places. It was like a clown’s costume. My days of moving up in the world came crashing to an end.

 

THEN

 

FURIOUSLY

 

A MAGIC MARKER

 

was found and my legs were painted black so that the effect of being a complete ass was somewhat muted.

 

At the meeting everyone had no interest in me at all and wanted only to laugh with my sponsor, Tom. The camouflage of his glowing persona subtly swept me into membership.

 

Thank you Tom for being who you were and for all the happiness that you brought everyone during your spectacular life. You will be sorely missed.

 

 

4. Roxana Robinson says:

July 1, 2011 at 4:17 p.m.

 

I first met Tom years and years ago, when he was the head of the Whitney and I was working at Sotheby’s. His infectious enthusiasm, his wonderful sense of playfulness and his exuberance made him irresistible – we all loved him – but he offered a great deal more than charm. On a very deep level he was engaged by art, by aesthetics, and by the question of beauty. He had a passionate connection to these ideas, which he demonstrated at the Whitney. Later when he moved into the gardening world, he was engaged by the same ideas translated into another medium: landscape. Light, water, texture, color. I moved into that world, too, and I delighted in seeing him in his next iteration, at his gorgeous landscape on Fishers’ Island, or at a cocktail party in New York. I loved to hear about whatever it was that had just seized his interest, and to stand in the current of his wildly infectious enthusiasm. Whatever it was, I always wanted to know it: he would make it irresistible.

 

 

5. Susan Zises Green says:

July 5, 2011 at 3:11 p.m.

 

Although I have known Tom Armstrong for only a few short years, it was an honor and a pleasure.

 

 

6. Amy Graham says:

July 8, 2011 at 6:18 p.m.

 

I did not know Tom very well but was always struck by his amusing style and keen sense of observation. He will be greatly missed.

 

 

7. Sara Lee Schupf says:

July 18, 2011 at 2:28 p.m.

 

When we thought Garden Conservancy, we thought Tom Armstrong. He was a wonderful spokesperson for gardens and his passion was contagious. Tom always made everyone feel they were important to him, and being within his orbit, one was both energized and inspired. He truly was a ray of sunshine, and we will miss his shining light. We all are enriched from knowing him.  - Sara and Axel Schupf

 

 

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