I was saddened to hear of Doyald Young passing away. I purchased many of his books, and they are a treasure – overflowing with typographic brilliance. I was very fortunate to have Doyald as my lettering teacher at Art Center in the summer of 1976, my first semester. He was a gifted teacher – patient, kind, disciplined and as all who knew him, a perfectionist. I’m pretty sure no one got an “A” in our lettering class. I was very proud of my “B”. I earned it and worked very hard. I’ll never forget what he said to me in class, “I only know one way to draw letters well and that is slowly.”

Doyald loved drawing letters and that is his legacy. He passed on his love of letters, and happily creating a font is what I worked on the day I heard he died.  I corresponded with him recently. I shared how appreciative I was of his contributions and that he was my typographic mentor and master. I also showed him a logotype I recently completed. He wrote back and thought it was cool. I can’t think of a higher honor. I will miss him.

Here is a link about Doyald and the appreciation he generated.

Here is video of Doyald, created by Lynda.com late last year: