ARC Mourns The Loss Of Brian Yoder
From the Art Renewal Center (ARC):
The representational art community and ARC team suffered a terrible loss. Brian Yoder, beloved husband of Erin Murphy, father of Brianna Murphy, brother of Christopher Yoder, passed away from heart failure on January 9, 2021 in Pasadena, California. Brian was 59.
Brian was a founder of the Art Renewal Center, served as its webmaster for many years and stayed a member of our staff as a technical advisor until his passing. The ARC will be holding its next ARC Scholarship Competition this May and will be adding an ongoing scholarship award, the Brian Yoder Memorial Scholarship, as part of our annual scholarship competition to honor Brian and his contributions to the representational art community.
“The day I learned how to use a search engine on the internet in the mid 1990s, the first thing I searched was William Bouguereau and Brian was the first person to post information on Bouguereau online. This is how I found him. From there I learned about his Good-Art discussion group and was introduced to a whole group of like-minded people when it came to fine art. I am grateful for my longtime friendship with Brian and his time, creativity, sharp incite and the wealth of support that he contributed to the Art Renewal Center and the world.“ – Fred Ross
“Brian’s legacy endures in the lives of those he encountered,” said Erin Murphy. “His encyclopedic knowledge of myriad subjects, including philosophy, science, history, politics, economics, business, art, music, literature, design, and computer science were appreciated by all who knew him and always kept him poised for the next great debate. His visionary ideas were often years, if not decades, ahead of time.”
Brian was an inventor, creating his own coding language as a teen and an e-mail system for Central Michigan University in his 20’s. Entrepreneur Peter Norton persuaded Brian to move to California to analyze the technical side of companies. Norton wanted to acquire in building Symantec Corporation. As Director of Product Development, Brian spearheaded the launch of EarthLink TotalAccess. Numerous companies included Brian on their advisory boards in building start-ups or when acquiring other companies. Brian’s greatest asset to a company was team building. Brian was the ultimate teacher, applying an intense interview process because he wanted to assure that each candidate had the right stuff. He took team members under his wing, imparted his vast knowledge, and cajoled, goaded and coaxed them into using their abilities to their fullest. Nothing made Brian smile more than seeing someone thrive.
Outside of work, Brian’s life was his family, which includes his Thursday night club with best friends Mark Peter and Alex Dilts. Many of Brian’s friends attended over the years. Alex and Mark were steadfast in sharing a brotherly bond rarely seen in families, let alone friends. Brian met his equal and the love of his life, Erin Murphy, a technical writer and opera singer, and took to Erin’s young daughter, Brianna. He proposed marriage to Erin on Christmas of 2002. Brian and Erin wed on October 10, 2003, anniversary of “Atlas Shrugged” by his favorite writer, Ayn Rand.
“Brian loved art,” said Murphy. “He indulged his passion to educate the world about fine art and realized his goal in collaboration with Fred Ross with the creation of the Art Renewal Center.”
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Brian Yoder Memorial Scholarship.
Brian’s passing is a loss for humanity. I first met Brian when we were both young systems engineers at a software company in the 80s, then we came in contact again recently through the Art Renewal Center. I’m now an artist and saw that he was instrumental in the organization. I contacted him and we renewed our acquaintance. I have always been impressed with his depth of knowledge, intensity, and enthusiasm.
I want to thank Brian Yoder for giving me Wha David Hockney should not be taken seriously. I did know about David Hockney. Brian Yoder gave me the information I was looking for to have the world of real art. Hockney was just a money maker capitalist. Brian gave me the doors to open and go into the real world of real art.