Necrology

Hanley “Hank” Craig Meirowitz '54

Jul. 15, 1932-Jul. 20, 2022

Hanley “Hank” Craig Meirowitz ’54 died in Waterbury, Conn., on July 20, 2022. Born in New York City on July 15, 1932, he came to Hamilton from Woodmere Academy in Woodmere, Long Island. Among the extracurricular activities he pursued in high school was photography, which became a lifelong passion.

On the Hill, Hank majored in art and participated in Squires Club. He played on the tennis team as a freshman and sophomore and on the soccer team as a junior and senior. He performed with the Charlatans during his final two years and joined The Spectator as a senior. Throughout his undergraduate years he was a member of the Camera Club.

Upon graduating, Hank returned to New York City and began taking business courses at New York University in preparation for joining the family business, Harry Meirowitz and Bros., an importer of special types of taffeta for the garment industry. In 1962, on the recommendation of family members, he opened an upscale children’s clothing store called Prissy Miss and Perky Mister at Madison Avenue and 84th Street. In this period, he moved part time to a home and 13 acres of land in New Milford, Conn., owned by his partner, Maurice Goldstein. He also continued to own an apartment in New York City.

When children’s fashions changed dramatically in the early 1970s, he closed the store and rejoined the family business. He did so out of a sense of duty to his father, a filial responsibility he also showed by his joining his father every week for services at Congregation Shearith Israel. After his father died in 1992, and well into 2014, Hank attended the same synagogue on the High Holy Days. Later, he attended Temple B’nai Israel in Southbury, Conn.

In 1994, after continuing the business for 18 months as its CEO, Hank dissolved it. Years later, he said of the 20 years he had worked for Harry Meirowitz and Bros.: “It was the thing to do. I was helping out. I knew what it was going to be like when I went down there. I put everything on hold — my capabilities, my talents. I was a CEO — big deal. It was a family business. I’m glad it’s over.” 

In 1995, Hank moved to New Milford with Maurice. Hank began selling real estate in Western Connecticut. But that “day job” paled in significance beside his work as a photographer. In addition to taking pictures of homes for his employer, Hank focused both his attention and his cameras on animals. To further refine his craft, he took courses at the International School of Photography in New York.

He remodeled his home to include a photography studio where he did much of his work. Just a year after settling in New Milford, he presented an exhibit of his work, “Barnyard Animals,” in Stamford, Conn. It caught the attention of William Zimmer of The New York Times. For Zimmer, “the crisp pictures of the exhibition reveal a dignity not often associated with these ordinary creatures: cows, sheep, lambs, roosters, goats, and pigs. For the most part, [Meirowitz’s] mode of working is to present a subject against a uniformly dark background and to make the head large enough to fill the frame. The animals’ distinct features thus gain a clarity that works to encourage empathy and convey the intense feeling the photographer obviously has for his subjects. … An especially wooly sheep is shown not in a portrait but in a natural setting with the front of its head pressed against a tree. It’s the picture of world weariness.” Hank’s usual subjects were household animals, and he referred to himself as “the portrait photographer for the pampered pet.” Asked in 2001 what his process was, he said: “I concentrate on extreme closeups of the subject, trying to show the individuality of the pet through facial expressions. I use a portrait lens, which allows me to give the animals a little space between themselves and the camera and yet can show their teeth, nose, and eyes in complete focus.” 

Following Maurice’s death in 1999, Hank traveled extensively and, naturally, took his cameras with him. Churches, synagogues, and castles, rivers and lakes, flowers and gardens, and, especially, people were the subjects of his photography. Upon returning home, Hank would take his film into New York on Tuesdays, arriving at 10 a.m. at a photo lab where he developed and printed his pictures before matting and framing them. It was not unusual for him to work for 12 hours straight on a project. At some point he switched to a high-end digital camera with a motor drive. This gave him the extraordinary ability to capture multiple images of his subjects as their expressions changed.

But on at least one trip to Europe, he turned to a much more serious subject: the Nazi death camps. Visiting Auschwitz, among others, he photographed what remained of the building and grounds, and would later present a one-man show at the Jewish Federation in Southbury to honor Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Following his death, Hank was interred in a Jewish cemetery in Paramus, N.J., where his parents were also buried.

Hanley C. Meirowitz is survived by two first cousins, one niece, and three nephews.

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