Michael Anthony Koskie

Mike Koskie, 67, of Jackson, MS, passed away on July 4, 2023, from late stage diagnosis of esophageal cancer. Mike was born September 28, 1955, to Frank and Sally Koskie in Jackson, MS. After graduating from Wingfield High School in 1973, he went on to receive a bachelor’s in Fine Art from Mississippi College in 1979.

Art was his number one passion in life. He brought his unique and independent spirit to all he created. His early journey in art began at the Art Department of WAPT-TV 16 and then for the Real Yellow Pages. He worked at Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Mississippi Film Office as a production assistant and worked as an extra in the movies Son of a Gun and If These Porches Can Talk.

He was a talented professional watercolorist, with his landscapes represented by Southern Breeze Gallery, the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, and most recently Pacesetter Gallery. Mike’s paintings transport viewers back in time, celebrating and memorializing important Mississippi locations such as downtown Jackson and his favorite place in the world, the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Mike was also an avid scuba diver and a big fan of Magnum P.I., making trips to Hawaii to visit and photograph locations where the show was filmed and later painting these scenes.

Mike Koskie has been a guest on many Mississippi tv and radio shows that have shared his work and story across central and coastal Mississippi. His work was featured in the PBS documentary by WYES in New Orleans, Biloxi Memories and the Broadwater Beach Hotel. A prolific artist, his many works can be found in residential homes, hotels, and restaurants like the collection owned by the White Pillars Restaurant in Biloxi. Always drawing, he could often be found at one of his favorite restaurants creating cartoons on a napkin and giving them away to his friends.

The artist contributed work to the Uptown Drawdown Auction held by the Kidney Foundation for the past 5 years. He could be found every Sunday running the camera for his church, Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church.

Mike was preceded in death by parents Frank and Sally Koskie and is survived by his aunt Ann Koskie, cousins David and Elizabeth Schommer, Mike and Toni Woodruff, and Keith and Clara Philly.

Visitation will be held at 10:00 am, with services beginning at 11:00 am, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church located at 305 N. Congress Street, Jackson, MS.