Merrymeeting People Bryce Leigh Muir 1946-2005 Bryce Leigh Muir of Bowdoinham died on December 14, 2005. He drowned after falling through the ice while skating on the Cathance River.

Bryce was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 23, 1946, to Ross Lyle Muir and Pamela Cooper Muir. He grew up in East Patterson and Glen Rock, New Jersey and spent his summers in Owl’s Head, Maine. Bryce graduated from Phillips Andover in Massachusetts, class of 1964, and later completed coursework at Beloit College and New York University. At age eighteen, he was employed as a financial reporter with the New York Journal-American. Bryce served as a Radioman, Petty Officer 3rd Class with the US Navy from 1967-71 in Argentia, Newfoundland, and Norfolk, Virginia. On May 20, 1969, Bryce married Margaret Ramsey Rosten on a terrace in Manhattan, New York City. They resided in Providence, Rhode Island where Peggy attended graduate school at Brown University. He earned the nickname “Bryce the Toymaker” while selling wooden toys and whimsical pieces of his own craftsmanship on local street corners. Soon they moved to Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, where Bryce worked as a fisherman to support his art and writing while Peggy did anthropological fieldwork. In 1974 they moved to Newfoundland, Canada where Bryce continued making toys, now also for his new son, Seth Leo Muir. While in Canada his articles appeared in Whole Earth magazine and The New York Times. Bryce moved his family to Maine in 1977, spending seven years in Jonesport writing and fishing before settling in Bowdoinham for the last 21 years. Bryce was deeply involved in Maine’s art community. He showed his art at the Maine Festival for fifteen years. Bryce also wrote for Maine Fisherman, edited the Union of Maine Visual Artists newsletter, and reviewed art for the Maine Times. His life and work were featured on public television’s “Made in Maine” and in Down East magazine. He opened Gallery Muir in Bath which celebrated his work and the work of local artists in 2004-5. He is now represented by Harbor Square Gallery in Rockland. Bryce was a prolific artist specializing in animated wooden portraits, mythic sculptures, local paintings, and thematic lawn ornaments like his recent Alice in Wonderland croquet set. He published two books: Local Myths and Lawn Wars. Bryce was an avid outdoorsman and music lover who built his own wooden sailboat and played in the local “Blues Buzzards” band. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Peggy Rosten Muir, his son Seth Leo Muir, two brothers, Ross Lyle Muir and Ian Hunter Muir, a sister, Peggy Glass Morin (daughter of Pamela Cooper Glass and Bill Glass,) a stepmother, Carolyn Muir, and an uncle, Bryce George Muir. He will be greatly missed by a wealth of wonderful friends. In Bryce’s honor we ask that each of you do something for a local artist. http://www.brycemuir.com/