Dick Fort

1922-2014

Fort was a prolific painter and composer .

He and fellow cross-country skiers worked with the U.S. Forest Service to create the Eagle Cliff Cross Country Ski Area in the Northern Hills.

Dick also was a founding member of ACTion for the Environment, formed to protect the Black Hills from damage threatened by open-pit gold mining.

Richard Lindsey Fort was born July 6, 1922, in Mitchell, the son of Lyman and Mildred Fort. His father was principal of the local high school and his mother taught grade school and was a composer. She taught Dick piano. As a boy, Dick also painted and drew cartoons, and he taught himself to sculpt roadside alabaster. In summers the family camped in the Black Hills. Eventually his parents bought a cabin in Spearfish Canyon, where Dick hiked, climbed and fished for trout.

The Fort family later moved to Sioux Falls. Dick graduated from Washington High School in 1940. Later he attended Grinnell College in Iowa, majoring in English and German.

In 1943, Dick was called up from the Army reserves. He trained in Ohio with a special German-language unit and in London as a cryptanalyst. After D-Day, Dick served with combat units in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, intercepting and decoding German radio messages. He earned battle stars for pinpointing enemy positions — some of them during the Battle of the Bulge — and he was honorably discharged at Christmas in 1945.

After the war, Dick returned to Grinnell College to finish his degree, and he earned a second degree from the Art Institute of Chicago, supported in part by the GI Bill.

In 1956, Dick began a 28-year teaching career at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago.

During the 1960's sabbatical, Dick returned to Europe to visit galleries, museums, cathedrals and other architectural landmarks. He drew on those experiences for his own art and for the courses he taught.

In Chicago, Dick often took his sketchbook to the jazz joints of Rush Street. He also drew inspiration from artists ranging from 17th century Baroque painters to 20th century abstract expressionists.

In 1984, after he retired from Wright College, Dick moved permanently to the Black Hills to the small community of Englewood, not far from Spearfish Canyon. There, inspired by Buckminster Fuller, Dick built a home of connected geodesic domes, which became a weekend headquarters for his large, eclectic group of friends.