John Cesar

Mayor of brewster, New York

Portrait and Memorial Bronze Plaque

The Sculptor with the Mayor in 2002

Photographs by Denis Castelli

New York's oldest Mayor, John Cesar passed away in the Spring of 2006, he was 88 years old. .

Friends of John Cesar came together and funded a memorial stone with a bronze plaque with the Mayor's likeness.

The tribute was placed at the Village of Brewster, Town Hall on Founders Day Sept. 30, 2007.

Thank you for your generous contribution to remember such a remarkable man.

Relief Portrait for the John Cesar Memorial Bronze Plaque

There may be some people who would be surprised when I say that John Cesar was an excellent model.

Besides his wonderful characteristic features, the former Mayor of Brewster was an extremely expressive man.

The Mayor was a generous and outreaching person, who's nature was never to sit down or stay idle.

So I was a little apprehensive about making him sit for twenty minutes at a time while I pushed some clay around a

metal pipe in order to create a likeness.

John would sit for an hour at a time, and the conversation was inspiring and educational.

He learned and did so many things in throughout his life.

We spoke on many topics; politics, art, life and horticulture,

food and his daughter and grandchildren who he loved very much.

I found he enjoyed coming to the studio and having lunch

and learning about sculpture. Some of our sessions lasted 4 hours.

His friendly and outward nature helped me create such a nice likeness in clay.

To this day I consider his bust one of the best sculptures i have ever created.