David Leigh Rathbun died on April 9, 2020. He leaves behind his wife, Terri Lynn Shanahan, his former wife, Susan Fox, mother of his son, Nigel Rathbun. David is predeceased by his parents, Josephine Irene Rathbun, and Harlan E. Rathbun, his niece Tamara Rathbun, sister-in-law Kimberly Ann Shanahan, and his grandson, Haidin Shanahan.
He is also survived by family in Denver: his brother, Ronald Rathbun and his wife Barbara, his nephew Daniel Rathbun, his partner Kelly, and their daughter Ashley.
He is survived by his stepson, Michael Shanahan, his brother-in-law, Joseph Shanahan, his nephew Ian Elaijah Shanahan, and his parents-in-law, Pam and Bill Manus.
David raised three good men, Nigel Rathbun, Michael Shanahan, and Ian Shanahan. He was very proud of all three of them.
David adored his grandchildren, Andrew Rathbun, his wife Becky Rathbun, Jacob Shanahan-Galinis, Cheyenne Leigh Rathbun, Dakota Skye Rose Rathbun, Zachariah David Shanahan, Jacob Bell, Noah Harlan Rathbun, Miles Shanahan, and Marley Shanahan. He adored his great-grandson, Zachary Rathbun.
David Rathbun was born in Denver, Colorado in 1943. He grew up in the suburbs west of Denver with the Colorado Rocky Mountains as his back yard. In 1965 he graduated with a BA degree in Literature from Wheaton College (Illinois) where he discovered the efficacy of a strong liberal arts education. After graduate study in Philosophy and Theology at Princeton, and curriculum theory at Columbia University, he participated in the development of the Street Academy program in Harlem under the aegis of the NYC Urban League. His interest in photography and in education converged in the Street Academy where he taught literature and encouraged students to make visual responses through photography.
A chance encounter with the book In Wildness Is The Preservation Of The World, the 1962 book of Eliot Porter's color photographs published under the aegis of the Sierra Club, made Rathbun aware of the expressive possibilities inherent in color photography and made clear that the arena of color was where his photography was headed. For the next several years, Rathbun photographed for commercial clients in NYC, and paid careful attention to the growing list of books by Porter.
A fortuitous encounter with Eliot Porter in a color lab in NYC when Porter was en route to begin work on what would become his Africa book, provided a seminal turning point in Rathbun's development as a photographer. Upon Porter's return from Africa, he invited Rathbun to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico in order to embark on a five-year, full time apprenticeship. From 1971 through 1975, Rathbun worked with Porter, and photographed extensively in the southwestern states. During this time he also mastered the Dye Transfer printing process, and served as Porter's printer. During this period, John Szarkowski, curator of photography at MOMA in NYC, selected the photographs for exhibition in the 1974 Southwest Biennial in Santa Fe. One of Rathbun's images was one of only two color photographs included in the exhibit. In 1975, at the urging of photo historian Beaumont Newhall, Arthur Siegel invited Rathbun to begin teaching and to develop a program in color photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago.rom 1975 through 1981, Rathbun taught color at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at ID during the period when color photography moved to the center of expressive photographic image making nationally. Rathbun was the first color photographer taken on by Douglas Kenyon Gallery in Chicago in 1975.
In 1981, David Rathbun accepted an offer to initiate a liberal arts photography major in then William James College of Grand Valley State Colleges. Since 1981 he has taught in the photography major that has become distinctive as a liberal arts program and that challenged and rewarded him as a scholar, a photographer, and an educator. Now in its 39th year, the photography major at GV has proven successful in preparing educated photographic image makers and has demonstrated the efficacy of Rathbun's model for an approach to visual communication that is integrated with liberal education and focused on the discourse of the photographic image.
While teaching at Grand Valley State University, David was an active member of the faculty senate, and the Chair of the University Curriculum committee for over a decade, for which he was awarded the Outstanding University Service Award in 2002.
David was a consultant to the Jacob K. Javits Foundation and U.S. Department of Education for the Javits Graduate Fellowship Program, where he also served for several years as the Chair of the Arts Division. He curated and juried numerous exhibitions in the region. Upon retirement, David was promoted to Professor Emeritus at GVSU.
Rathbun continued to photograph about color and vision, and the nature of looking when color defines the significance of the visual experience. His images are not intended to show what things look like, rather to prompt awareness of what it is like to look when color is given a nominal role in constructing meaning.
In addition, any understanding of David Rathbun must acknowledge his passion for sailing that has matured over nearly half a century, including a trans-Atlantic crossing from Florida to Ireland with two friends in a 29' yawl that involved 42 days at sea. He lived and sailed out of Saugatuck, Michigan, in his Pearson ketch. He served as a President of the Sailing Program for two years, and was an officer of the Board of Directors of the Saugatuck Yacht Club Sailing Program, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Saugatuck Yacht Club.
David was greatly loved and will be dearly missed. Thank you for sharing your memories and messages to David's family, some posts will remain private.
Leave Your Tribute Message
Happy Birthday, David. You were and are deeply loved ❤️
- Susanna
I met David at the Illinois Institute of Technology: Institute of Design in Chicago. I had been admitted to the school by Arthur Siegel, who looked at my work and said, "I don't believe in photography as therapy" and admitted me to ID. I was an "unusual" student…kinda wigged out. When I met David, he was my advisor and had a wonderful glint in his eye and a great sense of humor. He introduced me to David Plowden, a New York photographer drawn to the obscure beauty of the Midwest. Plowden and David were good friends (I'm still searching for a photo I took of them together back then.) My personal life was a mess and unfortunately it got in the way of my career there. I was bummed but left Chicago for Grand Rapids, vowing to become a working photographer and did. David popped up years later at my alma mater, then William James College at Grand Valley State University. He ended up there as a prof long after I had graduated which was in '74. I had missed both he and Plowden after leaving Chicago…we were kindred spirits back then. David will be greatly missed. Peace of Christ to all y'all, David R Banta P.S. If and when we find the photo, I will be sure and post it. See ya on the other side David!
- David R Banta
He was my most inspirational teacher that I had ever had. He believed in my photography and it made me feel so good when he was so excited about what I photographed and how I did it. I had to recall my favorite teacher today and I remembered him, so I decided to search for him. Sadly, I found this obituary instead of telling him how much he had influenced me. He was a great man and teacher. My thoughts are with his family. I had him as a teacher in 2001 and 2002. -Ella (Nickelson) Damkoehler
- Ella Damkoehler
David was a big part of the SYC sailing community - he was always very kind and welcoming to me and our family of young sailors when we first moved in to the community. We are grateful for one of his beautiful photographs (the Keewatin) that he printed for one the SYC auctions. He was a big personality and touched many lives - he will be missed. -Karen Crowley
- Karen Crowley
Rest in peace, brother.
- Ronald Rathbun, brother
Fond memories of hallway talks with David in Lake Superior Hall (his office was two doors from mine on the second floor) about everything from Pushpin to poetry, the Inklings to Alfred Eisenstadt and Linda McCartney. Once he spent more than a half hour telling me a scary story about riding out a storm in the mid Atlantic near the Azores Islands (I only wish I could have heard him tell a longer version around a campfire on a Fall night). Even when we were too busy to talk I could always feel and appreciate his presence nearby. Hope we can get to know each other better “someday.”
- Mark M Moes
I have met David when I was hired by the Philosophy Department way back in 1993. David had been a long time friend of the department, and I could see why. He was attentive, intellectually curious, and gregarious. When he realized that I was from Portugal, he always greeted me with a nice “Bom Dia!”, and he also told me how much he had loved the landscapes and the people of the Acores Islands when we went there to work. I sae some of his pictures, they are like realist paintings of beauty and meaning. He also used to take pictures of the group of philosophers every years for some years. Those pictures are now precious to us, as on the one hand we can witness in them the evolution of the department, our aging, and that so many precious colleagues (including him behind the camera) already passed on. His intelligence, art, and his essential kindness will be in my memory forever.
- Teresa Castelao-Lawless
He touched your soul which in turn touched your creative spirit. A great mentor, friend and professor. He will be remembered always!
- Doralynn'Tom Runyon
David was one of the first colleagues to welcome me to GVSU when I was hired by the Philosophy Department back in 1993. I soon discovered that he had been a friend of the department for decades. When he realized I was Portuguese, he told me about how he had loved working in photography in the Acores Islands, and every time he saw me he greeted me with a big “Bom Dia!”. Only much later I had the opportunity to appreciate his artistic sensitivity to the substances and forms of Nature, and how in tune he was to finding their richness. His pictures of those Portuguese Islands and the surrounding sea reverberated with me immediately, and he made me feel that he knew why I missed the Portuguese wilderness so much. He also used his art, and his humor, in more down-to-earth moments. Every year, he gathered the colleagues in the Philosophy Department to take our collective picture. These pictures were always taken in different places, at original angles, and from diverse perspectives on the area around our home-base in Lake Superior Hall. They will always help us remind ourselves of the precious human beings that passed through the department over the decades. His art, his intelligence, and his essential kindness will stay in my memory forever.
- Teresa Castelao-Lawless
Dave was always such fun to talk with whether it be sailing, photography, politics, philosophy. I spent a lot of time discussing Pearson rejuvenation with him and in the parking lot of Tower Marine in the start of each season. He was truly a nice man and I will miss his cheerful grin and wit. Smooth sailing old salt.
- Bob Wiseman
Condolences to Terri and family, and gratitude for time with David, sharing the birth of William James College, and then friendship in Lake Superior Hall. I performed the marriage ceremony for David and Terri, and have enjoyed seeing the strength of their bond.. I've appreciated David's seamanship on Lake Michigan, admired his precision and principle in college governance, and am thankful for the photos he took of the Philosophy Department over the years. Very grateful for the opportunity to have some time with David, and compare notes on the mysteries of this planet. He was a good man, and we were fortunate to have him in our midst.
- Stephen Rowe
First, condolences to the family. I worked with David in the School of Communications at GVSU, though in a different program. Even though I didn’t see David that much, what is vivid in my mind is his sense of humor and one of a kind personality. I recall hearing the students speaking fondly of him. He was a big presence on our campus. Rest In Peace. Robin Spring
- Robin Spring
This photograph of David Rathbun is by Professor Robert Robins
- Terri
Order flowers for David's service.
Seasonal Potted Plant (mum, poinsettia, cyclamen, etc.)
Thinking of You Basket
Gerbera Greetings
Natures Glory
Sincere Sympathy Garden
Blooming Duo
Loving Embrace
Classic Sympathy
Stargazer Garden
Designer’s Choice Grand Vase Arrangement
Tender Touch
White Wonder
Bells of Beauty
Stargazer Easel Spray
Beautiful Memories
Remembrance Easel Spray
Beautiful Blessings Wreath
Colorful Memories Wreath