Thomas Dunne, former Bayville resident who was a commercial and fine artist, dies at 73

As a child growing up in Queens, Thomas Dunne demonstrated an ability for drawing. It would serve him well after he moved to Bayville with his family and eventually developed a successful career in commercial and fine art.

"Dad's paintings were very eclectic. His style changed and morphed a lot over the years," daughter Mae Dunne said. "You can sort of trace his life through his different periods: big watercolor landscapes, retro cartoons, abstract circles, simple shapes and bright colors. He experimented a lot and was always expanding his repertoire."

Dunne, who moved his young family to North Carolina in 1990, died July 31 in Raleigh at age 73 after a long illness.

The son of Thomas and Annette Dunne grew up in Elmhurst, where he attended St. Bartholomew Catholic Academy. He moved to Bayville as a teenager and his satirical illustrations for the yearbook and student newspapers delighted his Locust Valley High School classmates.

Described by family and friends as warm, supportive and self-deprecating, Dunne graduated from Locust in 1970. He attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for a semester that fall but could not afford to continue his studies. He also trained at the Stevenson Academy of Traditional Painting in Sea Cliff.

Worked on oyster boats

While continuing with his art, Dunne worked on oyster boats for the Frank M. Flower Company in Oyster Bay. He worked briefly in Massapequa for the Kal Seinfeld Sign Co., owned by the father of comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

In the mid-1970s, he co-founded a Long Island ad agency, Ad Zooks, with friends and served as art director. The company survived for several years and gave Dunne his first experience as a professional artist.

He illustrated a Long Island Rail Road anti-littering campaign in the late 1980s. His other freelance corporate clients included Sony, CBS, Olympus, Onkyo, TwinLab and Harman Kardon as well as the magazines Time, Oxford American and Muse and book publishers John Wiley, Harvard University Press and Harper Collins.

He served as art director for American Scientist Magazine in 2000 after doing freelance illustrations for the publication beginning in 1991.

Moved to North Carolina

Dunne moved his young family to rural Rougemont, North Carolina, in 1990 and then he lived in Durham before moving to Hillsborough in 2014 and finally to Raleigh in 2024. He taught art privately and at the preschool to grade eight Duke School, Durham Nativity School and the Senior Care of Orange County in Hillsborough. His fine art was exhibited locally.

He illustrated a children’s book, "Fun with Dude and Betty," written by Lisa Pliscou and published in 2010.

Several years ago, Dunne reconnected with Long Island by painting a logo for Friends of the Bay, the Oyster Bay environmental group.

After the first of many trips to Hawaii in 1996, he fell in love with the culture, music and art and later signed his paintings with a Hawaiian petroglyph. "The nature and the history of Hawaii inspired him and infused much of his art," Mae Dunne said.

Dunne is survived by daughters Katy Dunne and Mae Dunne, both of Raleigh; and siblings Michael Dunne, of Bayville, Patricia Fisk, of Auburn, California, and Kathleen Hendricks, of Bayville.

Dunne was cremated and a private memorial will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to Snow Approach Foundation and Art for All.