In Memorium: Artist, Monmouth U Art & Art History Professor, Fair Havenite, Ed Jankowski, 80

Fair Havenite and noted artist, art history and art professor Edward E. Jankowski passed away peacefully at home on April 30. He was 80.

Ed spent “a long and fulfilling life spending time with family and friends, making art, collecting cultural artifacts, educating students, and avidly growing and hybridizing daylilies. He is regarded by loved ones as having the biggest heart, a generous soul, a stubborn character, and the best wit around.”
Loved ones of Ed Jankowski in his obituary

A graduate of the Layton School of Art, Milwaukee, WI, Ed earned an MA and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also studied in Mexico at the Instituto in San Miguel de Allende.

He joined the Monmouth University (then Monmouth College) faculty in 1969 and taught at the University for 40 years, teaching studio art and art history to countless students. Ed had an inexplicable way of getting through to his students and was referred to by many as the “Jon Stewart of art history,” injecting humor and storytelling into the study of art, his family added.

Known for his political, thought-provoking artwork, Ed’s work featured bronze sculptures, paintings, drawings, and collages. It was showcased in many nationwide exhibits. Among them were: the 72^nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago; the Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Seventh Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture at the New Jersey State Museum; a one-person show at Thompson Park in Lincroft, New Jersey; and a 40 year retrospective at Monmouth University in 2011.

Edward was predeceased by his father, Edward Jankowski, Sr. and his mother, Eugenia Jankowski (Wolk).

He is survived by: his loving wife of 42 years, Ann Tickner Jankowski; his loving daughter, Alexis Jankowski and her partner Peter Stumpf, of Red Bank; his brother, Dennis Jankowski, of Wisconsin; his brother and sister-in-law, Thomas and Elizabeth Lehmann, of Long Branch; nephews, Austin Lehmann and wife Carrie, Seattle, WA, and Wesley Lehmann and his partner Kelsey Cerwinski, of Freehold.

A celebration of Ed’s life will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers the family asks that you consider making a donation to the MCSPCA at https://www.monmouthcountyspca.org/.