Friday, April 17, 2009

Jo Meiers Leggett


Jo Meiers Leggett died on April 15, 2009 after a long struggle with cancer. An accomplished photographer and editor-publisher, she lived near Alamo Square in San Francisco.

Jo was a natural leader in the Class of '58, engaged in a range of activities from cheerleading and student council to class offices and both homecoming and prom courts.

After college she married and settled in Pittsburgh, where she chaired the board of an alternative open school and raised two children, Cameron and Catherine.

She studied photography in Pittsburgh and began to teach, exhibit, and win prizes, especially for her studies of animals and flowers. She also served as director of development for the Western Pennsylvania Family Center.

Moving to San Francisco in 1989, Jo became the publisher of photo metro, a large format magazine devoted to b/w art photography. She encouraged photographers, sponsored their work, and brought them wider public attention.

She also sold her own pictures to museums in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Austin, Brussels, and Paris. Her writing appears in two books, Our Mothers and Our Grandmothers, both available from Amazon.

Although Jo was never able to attend a reunion, she took a great interest in class news and had a large store of memories about growing up in Springfield. Her home was the former Day family house at Fourth and Canedy.

An archive of Jo's works resides at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas-Austin. Tributes to Jo are posted at the Benham Gallery. An obituary is now in the SJR.



3 comments:

Marita Holdaway said...

Thank you for the beautiful tribute to Jo. I'm so lucky to have had her as my friend. Even in her death she was able to stick it to "the man" as I'm sure she didn't worry about filing her taxes this year!

I love you Jo,
M

Anonymous said...

Sad to hear of Jo's death. We always had hopes to meet for lunch somewhere in the bay area and see one of her wonderful exhibits.

Mrs. Bob Beveridge and family

Cate M Leggett said...

Thank You for the lifetime of friendships my Mother had in all of her friends from Springfield High School.

Many Thanks for the notice on your site..

love and light
in service
Jo's Daughter,

Cate Meiers Leggett