David Mordechai Durst, a longtime seasonal resident of Menemsha best known for his whimsical mussel sculpture vignettes, died on May 13, 2016. He was 90.
David was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., in 1925, the youngest of five children by 8 years. When his parents moved to Manhattan, David enrolled in school for the first time, entering the fourth grade at Ethical Culture. He was made a prefect to keep his unruly behavior in check, and spent most of his time in the art room, where, it was discovered, he learned best.
As a preteen, he began designing and building model planes out of balsa wood, and flying them in Central Park. Upon graduation from Fieldston, David was accepted at Georgia Tech, where he trained in both aeronautical and industrial engineering. Though intending to play football there, he was drafted by the track coach. He ran all four years, becoming the long-distance champion of the Southeastern Conference. His business career began in New York City as a supervisor for the construction department of the J.H. Taylor Co., but he joined his father and two brothers at the Durst Organization in 1950.
In 1958 David oversaw the construction and design of 200 East 42nd Street, now known as 655 Third Avenue, the first building developed by the family. David participated in the design, and was responsible for the construction of seven future Durst buildings through 1989. He was influential in the design of the Durst offices, and commissioned artwork for the lobbies and public spaces, an innovation which has become a standard in the city. In 1966, David joined the board of the Hebrew Free Loan Society, and later served as its president for a decade.
In 1949 he married Henny Bernstein, whom he met in Lake Placid, where his parents had a summer house. They lived in New York City until 1954, when they moved to Chappaqua, N.Y. They lived there until they divorced 14 years later, and Henny moved back to New York City.
In 1964 they rented a house on the Vineyard, and in 1966 they bought one. They both loved the Vineyard, and spent summers there ever after. David combed the beach every morning in search of pebbles, driftwood, the frazzled lines of lobster pots — anything that washed up and inspired him. He assembled his finds into small, whimsical objets d’art, and over the years, the pieces grew larger and more playful.
David married Carola Erikson, and in the early ’70s, when off-Island in the nonsummer months, he began welding metal sculpture. During the recession and consequent real estate slowdown, David built a studio on his property in Chappaqua. He surrounded it with rusted scrap iron which he picked up here and there, and began incorporating the found metal into welded sculpture. He experimented in diverse materials — corrugated steel, sheet metal, wood and lath and concrete. His work was exhibited widely in museums in Westchester, and two pieces were commissioned for an office building in Hawthorne, N.Y.
But it was on Martha’s Vineyard that he conceived and produced his most iconic work, a cross between dioramas and three-dimensional cartoons, animated by figures composed of mussel-shell bodies and crab-claw heads. The pieces were a perfect blend of his humor, ingenuity, craftsmanship, and elegance. He continued to walk the beach each morning before breakfast, tailed by his Yorkshire terrier Rocky, and friends and acquaintances along his route from Dutcher Dock to the Menemsha Store would greet him with jokes they’d saved for him to use as the basis for the constructions. Betsy and Christine of Larsen’s Fish Market showered him with shells. Almost as frequently as he walked the beach, David drove his jeep down North Road to Shirley’s, where he supplied himself with everything from tools, paint, and hardware to juice glasses, never turning down the senior discount at checkout.
A show of his mussel vignettes at the bank across from the Chilmark Community Center became a widely anticipated annual event. A collection of the work was photographed by his friend Saul White, and published in 1998. The shows continued until Alzheimer’s sapped Durst of his creativity and abilities. His wife Carola cared for him through many years of his long illness.
He is survived by his wife, his five children, and nine grandchildren.