RISD mourns the loss of Foundation Studies Professor Alfred DeCredico ‘66 PT, who died on December 26. He was 65.

Alfred DeCredico’s life-long relationship with RISD began at the age of nine when he took his first art classes here. He studied in Italy as part of RISD’s European Honors Program and graduated from the Painting Department in 1966. Before coming back to RISD to teach in Foundation Studies in 1981, Alfred taught at Providence College, the University of Rhode Island and Harvard University. His multidisciplinary work has been shown nationally and internationally and is included in numerous museum, corporate and private collections (including RISD’s). He enjoyed fruitful collaborations with other artists such as Toots Zynsky ‘73 GL and Lino Tagliapietra. Alfred passed his love of critical making and thinking - and of RISD - to countless RISD students, among them his talented sons: Cesare ‘05 PT and Alessandro ‘08 FAV.

Alfred’s passions and interests were many and varied - he collected African art, cooked like a Cordon Bleu chef, maintained and acted upon a keen interest in urbanism, experimented with new materials and learned new disciplines - and above all cherished his role as teacher. For generations of RISD students he was an inspirational and liberating professor and a tremendous influence in our Foundation Studies Drawing studios.

A member of the pioneering group of artists that started the reclamation of abandoned industrial buildings in Providence’s Jewelry District in the 1980s, at the time of his death Alfred had completed the first phase of his second large-scale re-purposing project and had begun planning its next phase.

At his family’s request, Alfred’s funeral service and burial will be private (see Providence Journal obituary here). A memorial service will be held this spring at RISD. More information will be posted on this page when it becomes available.

The portrait above was taken in Providence in 1969 by Steve Liebman ‘70 PH.