Rick Beckjord, who passed away March 1 at his home in Sullivan, installed this sculpture of a ram on the Sorrento waterfront last summer.
SULLIVAN — Eric “Rick” Beckjord, who passed away at his home March 1, was a dedicated artist and ardent environmentalist who, as friends said, followed his own, inner music.
Beckjord, 59, was found at his home and sculpture studio on Punkinville Road. Family said he succumbed to a brief illness.
Beckjord was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he studied sculpture with Maine artist Cabot Lyford. He attended Carleton College and continued pursuing his art at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, the Art Institute of Boston, the University of Maine, the Art Students League of New York, and the Sculpture Center, the Chelsea School of Fine Art and the New York Academy of Art.
Beckjord was involved with the Frenchman Bay Conservancy (FBC) and in 2006 he donated an easement on 58 acres of land near his home that is now the Baker Hill Preserve.
Beckjord and others built trails on the land, hiked the trails regularly and encouraged the FBC to increase its land holdings north of that area.
A memorial service is planned in Sorrento this summer.
Memories and condolences may be left on his website, www.beckjordsculptor.com.
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