John Ehle, Author And Founder Of UNCSA, Dies At 92

The founder of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts died Saturday. John Ehle was 92 years old.

It's hard to overstate Ehle's impact on Winston-Salem, or the arts.

Born in 1925 in Asheville, he became an accomplished author, finishing 11 novels and a half dozen nonfiction works.

Ehle is also remembered as the special assistant to Gov. Terry Sanford who convinced the state to open a residential arts school. That idea, approved in the early 1960s, eventually became the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

The university would prove to be the training ground for thousands of young artists, including some who have achieved their industry's highest honors.

UNCSA Chancellor Lindsay Bierman remembered Ehle's tenacity in advocating for arts education.

“With his courage, intellect, doggedness, creativity, and incomparable voice he fought to enrich the culture of this state and our nation,” Bierman says. “We will miss him dearly.”  

Ehle's work earned him numerous awards, including an induction into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.

He's survived by his wife of 50 years, actress Rosemary Harris, and daughter, Jennifer Ehle, who herself is a graduate of UNCSA.