Joseph Henry Osborn

Joe attended the University of Texas at Austin where he received a Masters of Arts in Film and Communication. He began his advertising career in Houston, Texas, before becoming creative director at Dancer Fitzgerald in New York, which subsequently became Saatchi New York. He was founding co-partner and President of Osborn & Barr in St Louis, which grew to become the largest agricultural advertising agency in North America.

In 2004 Joe met his life partner, Leslie Kahl, through their sons, Joseph C. Osborn and Andy Matuschak, who attended Thomas Jefferson School in St. Louis together. The sons have remained very close friends, and the family blended effortlessly. Joe retired from Osborn & Barr in 2010 and moved to Portland, Oregon in 2011 with Leslie.

Joe was a man of many skills and talents. As a boy he and his dad tinkered with cars and engines, woodworking and wiring, and this led to his endless curiosity about how things worked and how to make them work better. He loved fast cars, especially Porsches. Joe was an avid photographer and a voracious reader whose appetites ranged from astronomy to military history and geology. A serious student of film, his tastes ranged from the silent classics to the films of Carey Grant and Marilyn Monroe as well as modern science fiction. He enjoyed exploring the Northwest and loved the Coast. Joe was funny, thoughtful, and beyond generous, taking great pleasure in surprising friends with books he thought they would appreciate, and providing cameras and feedback to several friends who voiced an interest in learning photography.

Joe will be missed by his partner, Leslie Kahl of Portland; sons, Joseph C. Osborn and wife Melissa of San Jose, CA and Andy Matuschak of San Francisco, CA; and sister, Jo Ella Doggett of San Antonio, Texas.

Private services will be held. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Oregon Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity or Thomas Jefferson School.

Arrangements under the direction of Skyline Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, Portland, OR.