Yale Joel, Life Magazine Photographer, Dies At 87

Yale Joel, a former Life magazine photojournalist who was as adept at snapping gentle scenes of everyday American life as at making technically challenging environmental portraits, died Sept. 30 at age 87.

He died Sept. 30 in Manhattan of cardiac arrest, according to a statement from his family.

Born in 1919, Joel entered professional photography at the age of 19, and was soon collaborating with friend Cornell Capa on a story about Czechoslovak refugees in New York. Later, Joel served for four years as a combat photographer for the Army Signal Corps in World War II.

In 1947, he became part of the original Life staff, and worked at various times in the magazine's Paris, Washington, Boston and New York offices.

At Life, Joel developed a reputation for setting up seemingly impossible shots and experimenting with unconventional tools like macro lenses and infrared imagery.

Among his notable portraits are a warped, sci-fi-like image of Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover climbing a ladder inside a nuclear reactor shell in Pennsylvania, and a shot of mathematician Ervand Kogbetliantz peering through a three-dimensional chessboard. Joel's portrait of a young John F. Kennedy campaigning for Congress in 1952 shows an important historical moment in the life of the future president.

Joel also shot heartstrings-tugging pictures of post-war Americana. He photographed a team of tired Little Leaguers in a New Hampshire schoolroom, a 9-year-old in a bow tie giving a piano recital in an Iowa home, and a series of passersby checking their appearance in a one-way mirror on Broadway.

"His photography was imaginative with a whimsical flair for humor," says Bobbi Baker Burrows, director of photography for Life books and specials. "He always wore a smile and was a true gentleman, highly respected for his talent and for his character by all who knew him."

Joel twice won the Magazine Photogapher of the Year award in the l950s.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Shirley; two sons, David and Seth, who are both photographers; daughter Louisa Fanger; and four grandchildren.