Nathan H. Glick

Nathan Harold Glick passed away October 15th. Nate, as he was fondly called, was born June 10, 1912 in Leeds, AL. He had innate artistic sensibility that his mother encouraged. By age six, his work could be found on the Children’s Page of the Birmingham News. At age 16, he graduated high school in Montgomery and moved to New York City to formally study art. He returned to Montgomery in the late 1930’s and his love for Alabama history began in earnest. He illustrated many books and several textbooks. One author, Marie Bankhead Owen, later became the Dir. of the AL. Dept. of Archives & History. She commissioned him to design the monumental bronze doors for the Archives Building in Montgomery. These doors contain scenes from eight AL history events. In WWII, he became a topographical engineer and a combat artist, depicting battle scenes from the back of a fighter plane. Back stateside, he met his future wife, Esther Weil, at Maxwell Air Force Base. They married in Montgomery in 1946 and moved to Birmingham where he served as Associate Art Editor and Illustrator for Progressive Farmer Magazine, 1957 – 1977. He continued in his art: painting murals for the U.S. Forestry Museum in Broken Bow, OK and illustrating books on Southern Native Americans. In 2003, Nate designed the murals for the 1790 Creek Indian Town display at the Birmingham Museum of Art. In 2009, the Southern Museum of Flight honored him for his WWII aviation illustrations and established the Nathan Glick Award, an annual grant for deserving young artists, in his honor.

Nate was preceded in death by his parents, Jane Klein Glick and Leo Glick. He is survived by beloved friends and family including his wife, Esther Weil Glick, his daughters, Stephanie Lee and Roseanne Glick, son-in-law Leon Van Gelderen and grandchildren Jenna and Will Van Gelderen.

The life of Nathan Harold Glick will be celebrated October 18th with 1:00 – 2:30 pm visitation at Ridout’s Valley Chapel located at 1800 Oxmoor Road, Homewood, AL. and graveside services at 3:00 pm at Elmwood Cemetery, 600 MLK Jr. Drive, Birmingham, AL.