THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 14, 1996 TAG: 9601130083
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 152 lines
A RARE Renaissance man passed last weekend. Lawrence Lee Mednick was a classical violinist, sculptor, painter, businessman, philanthropist and a volunteer on behalf of culture. His achievements were noteworthy in each arena.
Mednick, 66, died at home in Virginia Beach just before dawn on Jan. 6. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer in November 1992.
``Our community has been deprived of one of its devoted leaders,'' said Rabbi Lawrence A. Forman, at the Tuesday memorial service at Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk, where Mednick was a member.
A Norfolk native, his involvements were widespread, from becoming a founding member in 1947 of the Feldman String Quartet to board chairman from 1991 to 1993 of the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts.
He was president of Globe Iron Construction Co. in Norfolk, a family business. The foundry also was his studio for metal sculpture, which he began making and exhibiting in area galleries soon after he started work there in the late 1950s.
His interests made an impact on one another. Among his most visible works is ``Hole Notes,'' a large public sculpture that can be seen from The Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway just east of the Independence Boulevard exits. The work, resembling a warped musical note, is next to a mirrored office building.
Mednick had large soulful eyes, and a calm, centered manner. He was deemed by friends a quintessentially creative person, a man who recognized connections among all the art forms - and saw how artfulness could enhance everyday life.
For a 1992 lecture called ``The Creative Evolution'' he gave at The Chrysler Museum, Mednick spoke about ``bread and sculpture and music, and how they're woven together,'' he said then, adding that ``it has to do with your passion and your experiences, more than anything.''
In fall 1993, he was honored by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Hampton Roads for a lifetime of arts involvement in Hampton Roads.
He was as devoted to his arts avocations as he was to his company. In 1985, while building a bridge off the patio of his oceanfront home, Mednick slammed the middle finger on his left hand with a hammer. The finger was shortened and made tender. From then on, playing the violin would be excruciatingly painful.
Yet he continued. He even played a few concerts after that, though it caused him great discomfort.
The Feldman quartet folded in 1981. In 1987, he was a guest player for the Feldman Chamber Music Society's series, performing with cellist Janet Kriner.
Kriner had played with him in the quartet since the '50s, and remembered that Mednick ``was always full of fun. If there would be any tension between us, he would be the peacemaker. Tell a joke or something and clear the air.''
As to his music-making, Kriner said, ``his playing was always very warm and romantic.''
Mednick studied from age 8 with the legendary local teacher I.E. ``Izzy'' Feldman. By age 13, he was deemed a violin prodigy and did a concert tour of Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland, Mednick told Mary Reid Barrow for a 1977 Beacon profile. At 18, he was invited to join Feldman's new quartet.
Mednick played second violin for a year or so, then quit to go to college. He studied architectural engineering at Virginia Tech, then joined the Navy in 1952, serving in an anti-submarine squadron.
In 1956, he came home. He went to work as an engineer at Globe Iron and rejoined the Feldman quartet.
Mednick performed as recently as two years ago - for a memorial service for the late arts supporter Alice Jaffe. ``Larry joined us, even though he was quite ill at the time,'' Kriner said.
``He pooled enough strength to play for her, because he respected her so much. And he managed to hang in there. He was weak. But he worked well in the ensemble,'' she said.
Pianist Lee Jordan-Anders, who played with Kriner at Mednick's funeral, believes Mednick would rather be remembered for earlier concerts.
In 1989, he and Jordan-Anders played Brahms and Debussy at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts. Two years later, they teamed for a ``Familiar Faces'' program at Virginia Wesleyan College that included works by Dvorak, Brahms and Debussy.
Mednick played with ``warmth, tenderness, love, soul,'' Jordan-Anders said. ``He always played with his soul first. And that's not the way many people play.''
When the two got together, ``we played about life, and we talked about life,'' she said.
Bach and Brahms were his favorites, Kriner recalled. So, works by the composers were played at Mednick's memorial. But the service ended with Debussy's ``The Girl With the Flaxen Hair.'' That was what Mednick liked to call his wife of 15 years, Martha, also a very creative person.
``I think having Martha there was a real blessing for Larry. I think she's an angel, come back to earth to do some good. So warm, so inventive. Just an inner light that she's got,'' Kriner said.
The couple's dazzling love for each other was as inspiring as any other aspect of Mednick's life.
``We were wrapped in each other's arms, in this sweet embrace,'' said Martha on Thursday, reflecting on her marriage.
``Larry is so well known for the arts - as a violinist, as a sculptor. But, really, his greatest gift was love,'' she said. ``All of his component parts were a vehicle to express love.''
About 400 of Mednick's friends, admirers and kin - including two sons, a daughter and three grandchildren - braved icy streets on Tuesday to pay their last respects to a man who inspired them deeply.
``I think one of the reasons he was so esteemed by so many people is: You never felt he was acting on his own behalf. You felt he was really acting with the highest goals, and with no political agendas,'' said Helen Snow, president of Virginia Beach Center for the Arts.
Mednick was integral to Snow's hiring in 1992, she said. ``It was his vision that inspired me to take this job.''
She recalled a four-hour interview with Mednick, during which she appreciated that he ``never shied away from being philosophical, from working at a vision, instead of just the practicalities. His ability to look beyond was very inspiring.''
Snow was amazed that ``he also seemed to have a genuine concern that I as an individual would be in a position fulfilling to me.''
He had wide-ranging friendships, including people in all age groups and fields, from hairdressers to CEOs, said friend Kim Wadsworth, a writer and fashion expert.
``Larry really enriched his life with a very diverse group. If you were privileged to be in his circle, then you had a more colorful experience, too,'' Wadsworth said.
``Grieving about Larry is almost a selfish grieving. I'm not going to have a taste of that sparkle again. You just hope you could perpetuate that feeling.''
She and her husband John Wadsworth, a photographer, were close to the Mednicks for the past decade.
A few days before Christmas, Mednick came home following extensive chemotherapy treatment. Wadsworth called to say she was bringing dinner the next day.
``I knew Larry couldn't have much alcohol. But I brought a split of champagne. It was a celebration. He was back from the hospital.''
Among other things, the couples shared a love of gourmet foods. ``And Larry wanted to know about everything I had put in the food. Now, how did you cook the sauce? What kind of wine did you use? I mean, he had tubes up his nose.
``Even in the end, he savored every aspect of what he consumed or saw or experienced. To the end, Larry always stopped to smell the flowers.''
A final inspiration to those who admired Mednick was how he and Martha handled the challenge of cancer. Instead of focusing on pain and impending death, they kept a positive attitude. They remained involved in life, though their circle necessarily tightened.
``Through the illness, I kept looking straight at him. It gives you one more way to say `I love you.' We never really felt this illness was a burden for either of us,'' Martha said.
``It was our illness together. We just tucked inside of each other. And we enjoyed a richness of living our life together, by reading and holding on to each other.
``So when Larry passed, I was holding him in my arms. I wasn't afraid. I just knew it was time. I feel very complete, and grateful.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
JOHN WADSWORTH
Larry Mednick, a violinist, sculptor, painter, businessman and
philanthropist, died last weekend at age 66.
by CNB