home surrounded by his family on February, 20, 2021 after courageously battling a long, devastating illness. He was born on April 9, 1948 to James F. Luft and Mary Elizabeth Broderick Luft, a family of artists living in Wernersville, PA. As a young child, Jim was encouraged to play the violin and was given power tools so that he could make his own toys. Later, as an Eagle Scout, he developed self-reliance and a reverence for the natural world that he carried with him throughout his life. Jim left Wernersville to study at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia (BFA, 1970, illustration/design) where he was influenced by his renowned design teacher, illustrator, Stanislaw Zagorski.
After college, Jim began his career as a free-lance illustrator in New York City where he worked for several years before joining college friends, Bill Klein and Michael Leone, to form Conrad Studios in Connecticut. In 1982, he and Michael established Luft-Leone Design Studio in New Haven where they enjoyed a fruitful partnership for 27 years. Jim was a masterful airbrush illustrator who in the early days of digital art-making seamlessly transitioned his technical skill to fully embrace the digital realm. Jim worked with a variety of corporate and advertising agency art departments including those at Golf Digest, Bic Corporation, Keiler Advertising Agency, Yale University Press, and Sacred Heart University to create highly complex technical illustrations. Jim was known for his seemingly magical ability to perform extraordinary photographic sleight of hand.
Jim was also a talented musician who in the seventies and eighties played his fiddle with “The Phabulous Pheromones” and the “Homesick John O’Leary Band” which many times opened for name acts at Toad’s Place in New Haven. Jim’s rousing fiddling in the “Orange Blossom Special” always pleased the crowd. At that time, Jim was also commissioned to design and illustrate the now iconic Toad’s Place logo.
In 1982, Jim and Debbie married and purchased their home in North Madison where he spent the rest of his life using his creative energy to transform their 200 year old farmhouse into a showcase for his craftsmanship. More than anything else, Jim lived to share his rich world with Debbie, his wife of thirty-nine years, and their two daughters, Sarah and Suzie. Jim enjoyed bike riding with his family along the Madison shore, and could often be seen riding a tandem with his daughter, Sarah.
Jim will be greatly missed by his loving family. He is survived by his wife, Deborah Staub Luft and his daughters Sarah Elizabeth and Suzannah James Luft, his three siblings and their families: Margaret (Robert) Mcllmoyle and their children, Mary and Michael, and their grandson, Michael McCann, Elsa (William) Mierzejewski and their children, Matthew and Jessica and their grandson, Nolan, Carl Luft, and cousins Frances and Phyllis Luft, and Donald, Cecil, and Christine McKee.
A memorial celebration of Jim’s life will be held at a later time. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jim’s memory to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at https://www.lls.org
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