A farewell to Michel du Cille, photographer and artist with a lovely soul

His friends and colleagues knew Michel du Cille, the many-laureled Washington Post photographer and editor, only as Michel (pronounced Michael). But at a memorial celebration Friday afternoon, they learned that the name was shorthand. Du Cilles full given name was Michelangelo.

And like the transcendent Renaissance sculptor and painter, du Cille, who died last month of a heart attack at age 58 while covering the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, was hailed as an artist who captured timeless images of human emotion and struggle in his way through the lens of a camera.

A great man, a great artist with a lovely soul, said Donald Graham, former chief executive of The Washington Post Co. Graham, now chairman of Graham Holdings Co., quoted a tribute written by a student of the original Michelangelo: The great ruler of heaven looked down and, seeing these artists attempts, resolved to send to Earth a genius. He further endowed him with true moral philosophy and a sweet, poetic spirit so the world would marvel.

Du Cilles memorial at the Newseum in Washington was by turns solemn, spirited, spiritual, humorous and musical. Friends, colleagues, relatives and even a contingent from du Cilles college newspaper at Indiana University filled the 450-seat Newseum auditorium to overflowing. It was multicultural and multiregional, drawing people from around the country and from Jamaica, du Cilles birthplace.

Du Cilles daughter, Lesley Anne, played a vibrant violin solo in her fathers honor. Leighton, his son, described du Cille as a quiet man who spoke loudly with images he shot, as well as a closet Trekkie who binge-watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. In a loving e-mail exchange with his son about his photos from West Africa, du Cille wrote shortly before he died: My work is a calling to me. I hope it makes a difference.

Before he set off on his final assignment, du Cille texted his love to his wife, Post photographer Nikki Kahn, and enthusiastically wrote, Africa, here you come! Said Kahn, If he were here today, hed be reminding us of the real story: 8,429 lives lost to Ebola and counting. Hed be saying, Remember the real story. Remember the thousands of people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the rest of the world who are dying and will die from this Ebola virus.

The most eloquent tribute may have been a wordless one: a slide show of du Cilles photos over the decades.

The people depicted included the famous President Obama, the late Post editor Ben Bradlee, civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and the decidedly not famous drug addicts in filthy surroundings, Ebola patients awaiting death, militiamen (and women) in Sierra Leone, disabled American veterans.

Some of the latter photos won du Cille the third of his Pulitzer Prizes for photography in 2008, for a Post series that documented neglectful conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District. He also shared a Pulitzer in 1986 with fellow Miami Herald photographer (and future Post staffer) Carol Guzy for photos documenting a volcanic eruption in Colombia, and in 1988 for images of crack-cocaine addicts in Miami.

Under a projection of a smiling du Cille carrying a camera, naturally photojournalist Donald Winslow announced that du Cille would be the posthumous recipient of the National Press Photographers Associations annual Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award, the groups highest honor.

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A farewell to Michel du Cille, photographer and artist with a lovely soul