Don and Sally Kubly outside their Pasadena home (Photo – Steven A. Heller)
ArtCenter College of Design credits Sally and husband, Don, with having an enormous impact on its development and growth.
By News Desk
Sally and Don met when both were students in the Advertising program of the ArtCenter in its Macarthur Park neighborhood. Sally graduated in 1948 and, after Don graduated in 1949, they moved to Philadelphia where Sally worked for many years as the assistant art editor of Ladies Home Journal and Don was an art director at N.W. Ayer & Son.
Sally and Don returned to Pasadena in 1963. Don worked with then ArtCenter president Tink Adams and, in 1969, became president of ArtCenter until his retirement in 1985. Don passed away in 2011.
Upon their return to Pasadena, Sally joined the Pasadena Art Alliance, a philanthropic organization that continues to support ArtCenter. Sally served as art director for many ArtCenter publications between 1975 and 1981, including a catalog that won a New York Art Directors’ Award.
The architectural firm of Craig Ellwood Associates was commissioned to create the Hillside Campus and its iconic building; the building was opened in 1976 and was named a local historic landmark in 2005. Sally and Don had commissioned Craig Ellwood to build their home in Pasadena and credited Ellwood with the ability to reflect ArtCenter’s educational philosophy and accommodate its growth.
In the announcement of her death, Lorne M. Buchman, President of ArtCenter stated, “we owe much to Sally, not only for her role in making possible our splendid campus in the foothills of Pasadena, but also for her legacy of kindness and generosity.”
In lieu of flowers, donations in Sally’s memory may be made to the Kubly Family Endowed Scholarship.
Edited by Kate Bartlett
So sorry to hear this. Sally and my mother, Shirley Ross Van De Veere, were girlhood friends. A friendship that lasted years.
Condolences to David, and Jon, for their mom’s passing.