Franklin E. Riehlman Obituary (2014 - 2025)

Born Apr 22, 2014, Franklin E. Riehlman attended Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, CA. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Franklin E. Riehlman.

Graduation Year	Class of 1971
Date of Birth	Apr 22, 2014
Date of Passing	Jul 06, 2025
About	FRANKLIN E. RIEHLMAN RIEHLMAN--Franklin E., Art dealer Franklin Riehlman, the proprietor of Franklin Riehlman Fine Art, located at 24 East 73rd Street in New York City, passed away tragically on the evening of April 22 at the age of 61. To the unsuspecting, Franklin was known to identify himself as a used canvas salesman. In actuality, he was widely admired for his expansive knowledge in the field of 19th and 20th-century American art and his passion for early 20th-century art in general, including British modernism, and many other related fields. He was especially proud of his expertise in the work of the artists George Bellows, Clarence Carter, Konrad Cramer, Adolph Dehn, Charles Goeller, Leon Kroll, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Michael Lenson, Frank London, Edmund Lewandowski , Walter Murch, Priscilla Roberts, Harold Shapinsky and Hans Weingartner, along with many other artists of the early 20th-century, particularly those of the Woodstock Art colony. He was just as proud of his relationships with all who shared those interests. He also represented work of contemporary artists such as Leslie Gabosh, Walter Hatke, Robert Kipness, Simeon Lagodich, David Olenick, and Martin Weinstein. Franklin's prior lives included excelling as tight end/linebacker for the Pleasant Valley Vikings, induction into the Butte College Sports Hall of Fame as linebacker for the Butte College Roadrunners, a heavyweight wrestling champion, a painter of new canvases exhibited on both coasts, a student of art history at Hunter College, the Institute of Fine Arts and California State University at Chico, a scholar of ancient Greek vase painting, a salesman of LeRoy Nieman prints at Knoedler Publishing, Inc., a slide curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was also a lecturer, a paintings expert at Phillips, Son & Neale, Inc. in New York, an associate at H.V. Allison Galleries, a business partner of Andrea Scully-Keogh and of Megan Moynihan, a published author of art historical catalogues and essays, a bridge player and a golf addict. He preferred research at the Frick Art Library to the internet and loved books. He was born in Safford, AZ and raised in Utah, Nevada, Santa Barbara, the California Bay Area, and Chico, CA, which he left for New York City in 1977. He is survived by his partner and lover of 30 years, Mary M. Walsh, of New York City, his mother Margaret Whitaker Riehlman, his siblings Mark (Liz), Troy (Mary Ann), Ann (Pat) Patterson and Donald, his uncle, Charles Whitaker, nieces and nephews and many, many friends and colleagues. All of whom are heartbroken and will cherish his memory. He was preceded in death by his father Peter and his nephew Josh. Franklin Riehlman Fine Art will continue as a company under the direction and ownership of Mary M. Walsh. A generous group of colleagues, friends and admirers are holding a memorial service to celebrate his life and compare tales on May 22 at the Lotos Club on 66th and 5th in Manhattan. Contact Franklin Riehlman Fine Art if you have not received an invite and wish to attend. A quote from one of Franklin's many pocket notebooks: "Let us endeavor so to live that when we die, even the undertaker will be sorry." Published in The New York Times on May 4, 2014