Ben Mahmoud, a widely exhibited painter known for idiosyncratic takes on realism, taught art at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb for more than 30 years.
Mr. Mahmoud, 73, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, Tuesday, June 2, at a hospice in New Port Richey Fla., said his daughter Amanda Wolkowitz. He had moved to Florida in 2004.
Mr. Mahmoud started teaching at NIU in the mid 1960s. Throughout his teaching career, he showed his work in Chicago, where for many years he was represented at Sonia Zaks Gallery. He retired from NIU in 1998.
Active on the art scene nationally, he recruited many students for the university’s art school, said Larry Gregory, assistant director of NIU’s School of Art.
“He worked very hard to establish a large graduate program here,” Gregory said.
Mr. Mahmoud enjoyed socializing with students and was always available for counsel. “To Ben, art was a part of life. When you studied with him, your relationship wasn’t only in the classroom,” said Thad Settle, who did graduate work at NIU in the late 1980s.
“He was just an extraordinary teacher [and] a mentor as well,” said artist and teacher JoanLee Stassi, also an NIU graduate student in the late 1980s. “His premise was to really push you to find out who you are as an artist.”
Mr. Mahmoud’s eclectic background provided fodder for countless stories he often told at dinner tables, where he proudly presented salads made with lettuce from his garden or sauces from tomatoes he had grown and canned.
His father was a Lebanese immigrant who ran a grocery store in Charleston, W.Va. His mother was from a family that had lived in Appalachia since the mid-1600s, said his daughter Kassandra Newman. The couple’s son was both cosmopolitan and folksy, Settle said.
Mr. Mahmoud started sketching and painting at an early age and went on to receive a master’s of fine arts degree from Ohio University, Newman said. Before coming to NIU, Mr. Mahmoud taught art in Puerto Rico and West Virginia.
He returned to Charleston and his ancestral hometown of Hinton, often, and he was well known in the arts community as a local boy who had made good, said Settle, who paints and teaches outside of Charleston.
Mr. Mahmoud had solo shows throughout the U.S. and in Europe, and his work is part of the collections of several museums.
His early painting was done in oils. He worked with an airbrush through the 1970s and later began to incorporate more organic materials, like dried apples, into his work. His painting mirrored his work as a teacher — accessible yet challenging. Realistic images served “as a springboard or entryway to the world of ideas,” Settle said.
Mr. Mahmoud was divorced five times.
In addition to his two daughters, survivors include his wife, Pamela; a son, Jeremy Knopow; a brother, David; and two grandchildren.
Chicago Tribune. June 16, 2009, https://www.chicagotribune.com/2009/06/16/ben-mahmoud-1935-2009/. Accessed Dec 9 2025.
