Richard Avedon - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1944, Avedon married Dorcas Marie Nowell (1925—2011); she became the model and actress Doe Avedon; they divorced after five years of marriage. In 1951, he married Evelyn Franklin; she died on March 13, 2004. Their marriage produced one son, John Avedon, an author and authority on Tibet.

In 1970, Avedon purchased a former carriage house on the Upper East Side that would serve as both his studio and his apartment. In the late 1970s, he purchased a four-bedroom house on a 7.5-acre estate in Montauk, nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and a nature preserve; in 1998, he put the place on the market for $10 million and sold it for almost $9 million in 2000.

On October 1, 2004, Avedon died of a brain hemorrhage in San Antonio, Texas, while shooting an assignment for The New Yorker. At the time of his death, he was also working on a new project titled Democracy to focus on the run-up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

Avedon is survived by his son John, and his four grandchildren William, Matthew, Michael and Caroline.

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