`Sgt. Pepper's Magical Mystery Board´

[AnyRoad69]

VICTORIA - A day after commemorating the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, a photographer who snapped shots of Lennon and Yoko Ono at a 1969 Montreal bed-in died on Friday of an apparent heart attack on a Victoria sidewalk. Gerry Deiter, a New York-born photographer who came to Canada in the 1970s, was enjoying a spike in his career as his pictures of the famous couple joined an exhibition of photos by Linda McCartney at Victoria's Royal British Columbia Museum this month. His 1969 pictures, originally commissioned by Time magazine, were never printed because the death of North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh bumped them from the magazine. Instead, they sat in storage on Deiter's boat, where he lived in Victoria harbour, until he began showing them in local galleries to spread Lennon's message of peace after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The photos made their museum debut on Dec. 1 and the exhibition continues until the end of January. Deiter spent Thursday, the anniversary of Lennon's murder, at the museum giving tours of his 25 photos, leading a crowd in performing Lennon's ``Give Peace a Chance'' and retelling his story of eight days spent at the bed-in with Lennon and Ono in Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

''Seeing him at the museum answering questions from people ... it was amazing and he was in his glory,'' said Nathanael, his 28-year-old son. ''That was where he wanted to be. It's almost as if that gave his life meaning.''



Friday afternoon, complaining to friends of being burnt-out by interviews and constant attention, the 72-year-old collapsed on a Victoria sidewalk and died. The sudden death shocked those who knew him. Friends said Deiter, a habitual drinker who gave up smoking earlier in his life, had shown few health problems for his age.

Besides being a former founding editor of the Prince Rupert This Week newspaper, a photographer for Greenpeace and an avid sailor, Deiter was a fixture at the same seat and table at a downtown Victoria pub, where he congregated with a group of regulars known as ''Gerry's Boys.''

A full glass of his favourite beer, a rose and a photo with messages signed by friends sat at his favourite table at the Swans Pub Saturday.

His death came as a shock to friend and publicist Joan Athey, who said Deiter's experiences with Lennon in 1969 stuck with him for the rest of his life.

''It's like John reached out and said, 'Okay you've done your job''' Athey said.

''He couldn't have picked a better time.''
-----------------------------------------------




-----------------------------------------------


http://www.elliottlouis.com/dynamic/artists/DeiterGerry_bio_printable.asp