Joe Erceg ’55, who served as designer and art director extraordinaire on Portland magazine from 1986 until his retirement in 2017, passed away peacefully at his Portland home on Saturday, June 16, his sons Matt and Milan by his side.Joe’s longstanding service to the University of Portland took many forms, but his biggest influence came from his 24-year partnership with the late Brian Doyle, producing the University’s award-winning quarterly, Portland magazine. According to Rachel Barry-Acquit, director of marketing & communications, “He was a true original. He was a force to be reckoned with—talented, opinionated, and stubborn, but also very kind. He produced some amazing work for the University over the years — creating UP’s first logos, award-winning publications, presidential inauguration materials, and thousands of pages of the magazine. There aren’t many universities that were so fortunate to work with a designer over the course of decades; his memory was legendary as was his dedication to his alma mater.”
Joe was a renowned artist, photographer, and graphic designer and was never so happy as when he was ensconced in his office/studio on NW 2nd in Old Town. One of Joe’s iconic local images was a large butterfly mural in pointillist style which adorned an entire outside wall of Portland’s Import Plaza, completed in 1976.
Please remember Joe and his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.