Scott Atthowe (1944 - 2024)
Scott Atthowe installing Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture Crouching Spider on the Embarcadero, San Francisco, 2007
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing on October 31st of Scott Atthowe, our founder.
He was an early pioneer of specialized art-handling and shipping, founding Atthowe Fine Art Services in the 1970s. He built a small trucking company into an internationally acclaimed full-service business renowned for excellence. His company provided good jobs, always including full healthcare, to a skilled staff mostly comprised of artists. It also pioneered green practices, at one time having the largest solar array in Oakland on one of its warehouses. As an innovative thinker, inciteful mentor, and generous donor, he was an important part of the San Francisco/Bay Area arts community.
Before retirement, he realized his dream to sell his company to its employees. With unwavering dedication to his values and a tenacious will to stay the course, he left his employees a wonderful, thriving business organized as a California Worker-Owned Cooperative. His legacy of leadership and excellence continues to touch a great many people. We are endlessly grateful for his life-long commitment and his generosity, and we are honored to carry his legacy into the future.
Installing Bruce Beasley sculpture at Kunsthalle Mannheim, (Staatliche Kunsthalle), Germany, 1985
Mark di Suvero installation, Oakland Museum of California, circa 1978