Examples of Mahmoud's work can be seen at his Web site, www.mysite.verizon.net/benpam.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Ben Mahmoud, 73, the son of a Charleston grocer and a widely exhibited painter and sculptor known for his idiosyncratic takes on realism, died earlier this month in New Port Richey, Fla.

Born in Charleston, Mahmoud's father was a Lebanese immigrant and his mother a native of a Summers County pioneer family. He was a graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School and the Columbus Art School, and earned a master's degree in fine arts from Ohio University.

During the 1960s, he taught art at Inter-American University in Puerto Rico and West Virginia State College before beginning a 30-year association with the art department at Northern Illinois University.

Primarily an oil painter in his early career, he worked with an airbrush in the 1970s, and later began incorporating organic materials in his work. He later branched into sculpture and photography.

After retiring from Northern Illinois University in 1998, he moved to Florida, where his fascination with the area's native plant life influenced a growing series of wood and acrylic sculptures he called The Florida Series.

Mahmoud had solo shows of his work throughout the U.S. and Europe. His art is part of more than 25 permanent museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts and the Brooklyn Museum.

Mahmoud died on June 2 of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

His survivors include his wife, Pamela Hauschild Mahmoud; son, Jeremy Knopow of Milwaukee; daughters, Kassandra Newman of Cooksville, Tenn., Amanda Wolkowitz of Overland Park, Kan.; brother, David Mahmoud of Maryland; two grandchildren.

Graveside service and burial took place June 6 at Neely Family Cemetery near Hinton. Pivont Funeral Home, Hinton, was in charge of arrangements.

Examples of Mahmoud's work can be seen at his Web site, www.mysite.verizon.net/benpam.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Ben Mahmoud, 73, the son of a Charleston grocer and a widely exhibited painter and sculptor known for his idiosyncratic takes on realism, died earlier this month in New Port Richey, Fla.

Born in Charleston, Mahmoud's father was a Lebanese immigrant and his mother a native of a Summers County pioneer family. He was a graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School and the Columbus Art School, and earned a master's degree in fine arts from Ohio University.

During the 1960s, he taught art at Inter-American University in Puerto Rico and West Virginia State College before beginning a 30-year association with the art department at Northern Illinois University.

Primarily an oil painter in his early career, he worked with an airbrush in the 1970s, and later began incorporating organic materials in his work. He later branched into sculpture and photography.

After retiring from Northern Illinois University in 1998, he moved to Florida, where his fascination with the area's native plant life influenced a growing series of wood and acrylic sculptures he called The Florida Series.

Mahmoud had solo shows of his work throughout the U.S. and Europe. His art is part of more than 25 permanent museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts and the Brooklyn Museum.

Mahmoud died on June 2 of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

His survivors include his wife, Pamela Hauschild Mahmoud; son, Jeremy Knopow of Milwaukee; daughters, Kassandra Newman of Cooksville, Tenn., Amanda Wolkowitz of Overland Park, Kan.; brother, David Mahmoud of Maryland; two grandchildren.

Graveside service and burial took place June 6 at Neely Family Cemetery near Hinton. Pivont Funeral Home, Hinton, was in charge of arrangements.