Passing of Founder Ray Pisano

The college was notified by the family of Artist/Sculptor/Designer Ray Pisano that he passed at the age of 101 in the spring. Per his wishes, no public information was shared by his family. He was the last surviving founding faculty member of Montserrat.

Ray had an exhibition at the college Ray Pisano: A Lifetime of Achievement from November of 2022 through February of 2023, at which time he presented a talk in the Founders Gallery. Earlier this year, he donated a sculpture to the college’s collection. The piece is being restored and currently sits at 248 Cabot Street near the president’s office. He began teaching at the college in 1970 prior to the completion of the original Montserrat building on the campus of the North Shore Music Theatre. The school at that time rented the barn at the Crane Estate, Ipswich, for some classes to be held and that is where Ray began his career at Montserrat. 

He taught sculpture, anatomy and other classes and mentored generations of students. A longtime resident of Nahant where he maintained a sculpture studio, he was born in Lynn, a city that honored him last year for the bronze sculptures he created of Mary Baker Eddy and Frederick Douglass.

A decorated World War II veteran, Pisano earned a fifth-year certificate with highest honors from the Boston Museum School, where he joined the faculty after graduating. He was commissioned to create large-scale sculptures in bronze and stone since the early 1950s locally and nationally. He conducted restoration work for sculpture and edifices for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston University, Harvard University and others. Besides his position at Montserrat, he also served as a faculty member at the Boston Museum School and Boston University.

A stone carver who made his own tools on his forge in his studio, Ray was carving and creating major stone sculptures, friezes and memorials for many years including major installations at the Forest Hills Cemetery, the Mary Baker Eddy monument in Lynn and the Frederick Douglass monument in New Bedford, among others. He has also worked on restorations of many major historical sculptures around New England.

Pisano was also a product director for the housewares division of General Electric, Bridgeport, CT; worked in product development for Newhart Products, specializing in precision trace masters for jet engines; and served as corporate director of product development at Towle Silver for whom he traveled internationally introducing new technologies to the trade. He was also called upon by major Boston museums to identify the origins of ancient Roman artifacts, which he successfully completed.

Ray’s words of wisdom on his longevity were “Never finish anything.” He believed you couldn’t leave if you still had work to do.