First, Don Foster. He is one-half of the namesake of the Pioneer Square gallery Foster/White, and he died March 23 at age 86, Gayle Clemans reported last weekend in the Seattle Times. The gallery was the first place to show Dale Chihuly's work locally, in 1977.*

Sam Davidson of Davidson Galleries called Foster "quiet but strong." And he also led other artistic enterprises in Seattle, including executive-directing at Seattle Rep and founding Seattle Art Dealers Alliance. (His full obituary by Clemans is here.)

Donald Young has not been in Seattle in many years, and he was only here for a shorter while, but he had arguably as much impact on local art people as Foster did. (Chicago Tribune obit.)

Young was a power broker in international art, representing mega-mega-stars like Richard Serra, Jeff Koons, and Bruce Nauman (gallery site)—but one who did things his own way. For one thing, he was based in Chicago, not New York or LA. For another, he once had a gallery in Seattle. (Young also represented Gary Hill, the decorated Seattle artist who won the Stranger Genius Award last year and who currently has an exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery.)

I didn't know Young. But from the stories I have heard about him, in some ways, Young sounds like another Gagosian (Larry Gagosian, Overlord of Art—New York dealer). In other ways, though, Young sounds like the anti-Gagosian. If he was a shark, it was not in the murderous gobbling sense, but more in the real sense of the creature: purpose-driven, undeterred, elegant, with something ancient about him.

Seattle dealer Greg Kucera remembers a conversation with Young over dinner sometime in maybe 1992 or 1993. (Young had his gallery in Seattle for seven years, and it was the most international gallery ever to exist in this city. Robin Updike at the Times told its pretty remarkable story here.)

"I once asked him over dinner what was the greatest difference between what he was doing and what we all are doing," Kucera wrote in an email today. "He said, 'You are all offering comfort to your clients. I am not interested in comfort.' I always loved that statement. And, to a great degree, I know he's right."

RIP both and condolences.

^{*FYI: I've been informed that the Times article has just one thing wrong: Foster/White did not work with Alden Mason until after the gallery passed out of Foster's hands into the hands of the current owners, the Huang family.}