Thaddeus G. Mosley

Thaddeus Mosley ObituaryObituary published on Legacy.com by Samuel J. Jones Funeral Home on Mar. 16, 2026.Thaddeus was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on July 23, 1926, to Helen Fagan Poole (1903-2000) and Thaddeus Mosley Sr. (1901-1960). He was also preceded in death by his sisters Beattle Allen, Margaret Cox, Orvetta Ward, and Corliss Woodlee. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1950, worked as a sportswriter at the Pittsburgh Courier in the 1950s, and spent nearly 40 years working as a mail sorter for the U.S. Postal Service while simultaneously building his internationally acclaimed art career.He is survived by his six children: Martel Mosley (Barbara), Rochelle Sisco, Lorna Mosley (Bill Baskin), Tereneh Idia, Anire Mosley, Khari Mosley (Chelsa); eight grandchildren: Carl, Martel, Dana, Jean Luc, Imani, Thaddeus, Isaiah, and Zaire; two great grandchildren: Jasmine and Aisha; as well as many beloved extended family members and close friends, including his longtime companion, Teruyo Seya. His two grand-dogs, Sasha and Kiki, will miss his reluctant but loving pets.Thaddeus, an internationally acclaimed sculptor known for monumental carvings from salvaged wood, was widely regarded as one of the most significant artists to emerge from the Appalachian region, taking this coal miner's son to world renown.A self-taught artist, Thaddeus received numerous honors recognizing his contributions to American sculpture, including: Pittsburgh Center for the Arts' Artist of the Year in 1979; Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Artist of the Year in 1999; the Arts and Letters Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021; the prestigious Isamu Noguchi Award in 2022; and an Honorary Doctorate of Arts and Letters from his alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh, in 2022.Thaddeus has multiple public works of art in the city of Pittsburgh, including: Phoenix and Mountaintop in the Hill District; Three Rivers Bench at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center; Region In Suspension, Oval Continuity, and Branched Form at Eastside Bond Plaza; and Inverted Dancer at Carnegie Mellon University's Fifth and Clyde Courtyard.Highlights of his multi-decade career include: Touching the Earth, his Public Art Fund-curated exhibition at New York's City Hall Park (2025); Following Space: Thaddeus Mosley & Alexander Calder, a two-person presentation with one of his art heroes at the Seattle Art Museum (2024); his institutional solo exhibitions Forest at Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland (2021, traveled to Art + Practice, Los Angeles, and Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas), La Suite de l'Histoire at Paris's Musée National Eugène Delacroix, and Sculpture (Studio | Home) at Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory (2009); group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2023), Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2022), Harvard Business School, Boston (2020), and Sculpture Milwaukee (2020); and his inclusion in the 57th Carnegie International (2018); among others.His work is also in the collections of prestigious art institutions, including: the Art Institute of Chicago; August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Pittsburgh; Baltimore Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Legacy Museum, Montgomery, Alabama; Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Portland Museum of Art, Maine; Seattle Art Museum; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. In April 2026, Touching the Earth will be the inaugural installation at Arts Landing, an outdoor civic space and park in downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District. His current exhibition Glass, featuring small-scale glass sculptures, will be on view at Karma in New York until March 28.Since 2019, Mosley has been represented by Karma, a contemporary art gallery and publishing house with multiple locations in New York City and Los Angeles.Despite these many accomplishments, when asked what he was most proud of in his century on earth, his answer was simple: his six children. For this reason, his children were honored to care for him at home under the guidance of amazing hospice nurses.Though self-taught, he was an inspiring art teacher. For decades during the summers, he was a mainstay of the Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, Pennsylvania, using his vacation time from the Postal Service and taking his three youngest children in tow. Over the decades, Thaddeus conducted workshops and lectures in diverse settings, from elementary to graduate schools, and for the vulnerable incarcerated to the protected privileged.In his personal life, Thaddeus was a loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was also an incredible cook, often preparing delectable, healthy meals as a single father for his family between his shifts at the U.S. Postal Service and his daily pilgrimage to his sculpture studio - his personal sanctuary - in the city's Chateau neighborhood. His cooking was so legendary that instead of going out for a traditional prom dinner, his daughter Tereneh's friends insisted that her dad cook the prom meal and that they would go to the dance later. No photos exist, though, as Thaddeus either lost the film or did not have film in the camera - an unsolved mystery to this day.While Thaddeus was a strict disciplinarian who did not tolerate mediocrity when it came to academics, he also encouraged his children to love crafts and creating, making sure that music lessons, dance classes, visual arts courses, baseball, and basketball practices were a regular part of their lives. From public school music classes (Martel: drums; Rochelle: violin; and Lorna: "no one remembers") to visits to the Selma Burke Arts Center, Bidwell, and the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, art was - and remains - an active part of the Mosley family.One of the greatest gifts Thaddeus gave his children was a family of creatives who helped raise them in a world filled with imagination: art "uncles" like David Lewis, Frank Flynn, Sam Gilliam, Richard Hunt, August Wilson, Ahmad Jamal, and Miguel Burgos, whose lessons and legacies continue to shape the Mosley family.If you saw Thaddeus walking to the Sandwich Shoppe for breakfast or to the laundromat to wash his family's clothes, you would not know this unassuming, brisk-paced man had sculptures at the Carnegie Museum of Art. When other postal workers were taking their kids to an amusement park during summer vacation, Thaddeus set off, children in tow, to teach sculpture classes in the mountains.As a young man, he was a multi-talented athlete who coached the South Pacific championship basketball team as an athletic specialist in the Navy during WWII, ran track at the University of Pittsburgh, and played semi-pro basketball in the Pittsburgh area well into his 30s. In the 1940s, he competed on the hardcourt in pick-up ball at the Centre Avenue YMCA against legendary players such as Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Nunn and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Chuck Cooper, whom he served with in the Navy.Later in life, Thaddeus became a motivational father figure on Pittsburgh's Northside for dozens of young African-American men who were close friends and associates of his two youngest sons, Anire and Khari. His consistency, discipline, and commitment to excellence were an inspiration and model for an entire generation of men from the neighborhood who learned from his example what it meant to be a responsible, dependable, and dedicated father.A private memorial service will be held for the family, and details regarding a public celebration of life will be announced in the coming days. In lieu of flowers, the Mosley family asks that those wishing to honor Thaddeus consider supporting a Thaddeus Mosley Memorial Fund being established by the family in his memory. Details will be shared soon.To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.