Henry Beaumont
Calgary lawyer Henry Beaumont, an avid art collector and supporter of the arts, died Jan. 8 following a stroke.
Raised in Lethbridge, Alta., he attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., and then law school at the University of Alberta, graduating in 1956. He practiced with the same Calgary firm, Beaumont Church, until he retired in 2015 at the age of 83.
In his later years, Beaumont advised other Calgarians about worthwhile art purchases. "I want to help people make the best decisions about what to choose," he told Galleries West in 2006.
He said his initial interest was sparked by his wife, Gale, a student at the Ontario College of Art. "I wanted to learn about the things she was interested in. So I was told to read J. Russell Harper’s Painting in Canada twice, and to avoid buying any art for a year.”
Beaumont, also passionate about jazz and politics, counted many Alberta artists and gallery owners as close friends and helped establish the Alberta Foundation for the Arts in the 1970s.
Source: Calgary Herald