Millard Fillmore Harty ... acclaimed furniture designer; at 92

DOVER - Millard Fillmore Harty died peacefully in his sleep the morning of his 92nd birthday, on October 11, 2021, at Watson Fields Assisted Living Community in Dover. He is survived by his three children, Kim Harty, Drew Harty, and Collin Harty, his two grandchildren, Kallie Branciforte and Anna Harty, and his two great grandchildren Miles Branciforte and Finley Branciforte.

He will be remembered for his many passions and indulgences - his lifelong dedication to design, his love of sailing, and his desire to travel the world. As he followed those passions, his children each learned to love him on his terms. They continue to carry with them a deep pride in his many accomplishments.

His work permeated his family's life. He earned a degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute. Early on he worked for William M. Schmidt Associates which for several months, brought the family to Lima, Peru, where he worked on a U.S. World Trade Exhibit. Being an excellent craftsman, he not only designed the house his children grew up in, but detailed much of the fine woodwork in it. When he started his freelance career he worked from home, so his family was always the first to see drawings of his new designs. His early work ranged from designing alloy wheels for automobiles, to detailing the look of the first commercial microwave ovens manufactured by the Amana Corporation.

Eventually he achieved his greatest acclaim for his commercial and residential furniture designs, working for an international array of clients such as Stow Davis, Preview Furniture, W. Schillig, and Thonet. Today, samples of his work are archived at the Henry Ford Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Library of Congress.

Even into his mid-80s, when increasing age made travel and client management impossible, he continued his dogged, career-long struggle to design the perfect folding sofa-bed mechanism, a testament to his enduring faith in the power of design.

His greatest peace was found on the water. The sailing vessels that transited his life were like markers to his own life transitions. His first boat, an all teak Cheoy Lee Robb 35, was purchased at the start of his career. It was a boat that brought the family together, generating many happy memories of summer days on the Great Lakes. It was sold after five years to help finance the building of the family home. His second boat, an Ericson 25, was purchased years later after most of his children had left. He largely sailed it solo, a sanctuary on the water from an increasingly contentious marriage. His third boat, a thirty-foot custom designed and built racer, was an expression of his growing professional success. She was beautiful and fast, but her acquisition proved stressful on his fragile marriage. Two years after Nereis III was launched, he was separated. He came to settle in Portsmouth, and this fast boat settled into the quieter life of a coastal cruiser. He spent the next two plus decades exploring the New England coast with friends and family, until he finally came off the water in his early 80s. Both personally and professionally, these were the happiest and most rewarding years of his life.