Morton Rosengarten, a storied figure from Montreal’s cultural past, is being mourned by friends and family.

Rosengarten, who died two weeks ago at 92 after a lengthy battle with pulmonary disease, was a force — albeit a most unassuming and modest one — on the city’s burgeoning cultural scene in the latter half of the last century. A renowned sculptor, he deeply affected the lives of fellow iconoclasts and buddies like his lifelong best friend Leonard Cohen, Indigenous filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, poet Irving Layton and painter/sculptor Armand Vaillancourt. He also left his mark on the scores of students he taught, among them Joni Mitchell.

“My uncle was just so principled and erudite, but with such a wry sense of humour. He was totally devoted to his art, and he taught me innumerable life lessons,” says his nephew Shawn Rosengarten, a Montreal TV distributor.

“We all lose people we love along the way, but this loss really hurts. My uncle Morton so inspired me both by his work and his life. He was my closest living relative, and I already miss him greatly.”

Born in Montreal in 1933, Morton graduated from Sir George Williams University in 1956 and went on to study at London’s famed St. Martin’s School of Art under the tutelage of three of the most influential British sculptors of the 20th century: Anthony Caro, Eduardo Paolozzi and Elisabeth Frink.

Following his studies in England, he returned to Montreal and launched with Cohen the long-defunct downtown bohemian outpost the Four Penny Gallery on Stanley St., dedicated........

© Montreal Gazette