Hudson Roysher; Silversmith Created Religious Objects

Hudson Roysher, art professor, designer and silversmith who created maces for universities and chalices and candelabra for major Southern California churches, has died at the age of 81.

Roysher, who had retired to La Jolla, died June 23 at Casa Palmera Convalescent Hospital in Del Mar.

His commissioned pieces accent sanctuaries in several Southland churches, including All Saints Episcopal Church of Beverly Hills, St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church of Los Angeles, St. Catherine’s Military School Chapel in Anaheim, La Casa de Maria Retreat Chapel in Montecito and St. Paul’s in the Desert Episcopal Church of Palm Springs.

Roysher also created the ceremonial maces for USC and Cal State L.A., Syracuse University and the University of Buffalo and Bethune-Cookman College.

“I ask myself: ‘Will this thing last for at least 100 years?’ ” Roysher told The Times in 1967. “My work has to be of the best quality that I am capable of at the time.”

Born Nov. 21, 1911, in Cleveland, Roysher was first attracted to metalwork by the suits of medieval armor he saw in the Cleveland Museum--the same museum that gave him its Special Award for Continued Excellence in 1941.

“Looking at a piece of silver,” he once told The Times, “is like looking into a pool of clear water. There is a depth to it that other metals do not have.”

Roysher was educated at Cleveland School of Art, Western Reserve University and later USC. He began his career at Designers for Industry in Cleveland, and next set up the industrial design program at the University of Illinois.

Roysher moved west in 1939 to create a similar curriculum for USC. He left the university to serve in the Army during World War II.

After a period as silversmith for Gump’s in San Francisco, Roysher returned to Los Angeles to establish a division of industrial design at the Chouinard Art Institute.

He moved to Cal State L.A. in 1951 to teach metal smithing and design, and retired 24 years later as chairman of its art department. In 1966, state trustees named him outstanding professor of the Cal State system.

Continuing to create silver and other metal art during his teaching career, Roysher had his first one-man show in 1941 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His work was included in traveling exhibitions sent abroad by the State Department in 1951-53 and the Smithsonian Institution in 1953-55. His work was also exhibited at museums in San Francisco, Denver, St. Louis and Brooklyn.

Roysher is survived by his wife of 57 years, Alli; a son, Martin, of Albany, N.Y., and a daughter, Allison Wittenberg of St. Louis, and two grandchildren.

Memorial services are scheduled at 2 p.m. July 17 at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in San Pedro, 1648 W. 9th St.

The family has requested that donations in his honor be made to the Hudson Roysher Memorial Fund of the JFK Library at Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles 90032-8300.