Longtime West Seattle resident and neighborhood native, died July 16, 2007 at Virginia Mason Medical Center after a stroke. Born on January 22, 1927, he was the son of Canadian ﾎmigrﾎs James Nelson Woodside and Carol Gavinjack Woodside whose home was on Palm Avenue Southwest. for many years. Gordon attended Genesee Elementary School, James Madison Junior High School, and West Seattle High School (Class of 1941) before graduating in English from University of Washington (Class of 1945).
Before opening Gordon Woodside Gallery in 1961 with his partner of 57 years Donald Teichman, Woodside was a 1st lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served in the Korean War. The gallery had a branch in San Francisco (1967-74) and became Gordon Woodside/John Braseth Gallery in 1980. It is now located at 2101 9th Ave. Business partner John Braseth is also from West Seattle.
As proprietor of Seattle's longest-lasting art gallery, Woodside discovered numerous Northwest artists who attained great success, including William Ivey, Kathleen Gemberling Adkison, Carl Morris, Hilda Morris, William Cumming, Maria Frank Abrams, Frank Okada, Paul Horiuchi, Doris Chase, John-Franklin Koenig, Ambrose Patterson, and Viola Patterson. Thanks to his early friendships, the gallery represents the estates of early Northwest masters Tobey, Graves, Callahan and Anderson.
In addition, he gave first Seattle showings of prominent New York and European artists Henry Moore, Andy Warhol, Luis Feito, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Larry Rivers, and Robert Colescott.
With Woodside's sharp and witty personality, celebrities visiting Seattle flocked to his gallery to buy art and partake of his engaging and caustic repartee. They include David Rockefeller, Senator Henry Jackson, President Vigbisdottir of Iceland, novelist Philip Roth, actress Claire Bloom, and many others. Actor Vincent Price begged to pull weeds in Woodside's garden at his Washington Park home. Tenor Luciano Pavarotti tended bar at a party of Woodside's in 1964. In later years, prominent musicians like Robert Plante, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain and Susan Silver patronized the gallery.
A collector of English antiques and folk art of Haiti, Mexico, Tahiti, Africa and Northwest Coast Native American and First Nations of Canada art, Woodside and Teichman traveled extensively with trips to New York five times a year, as well as to Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Indonesia and the Middle East. He was a familiar guest at the Hotel Gritti Palace in Venice and at Essex House in New York (where he backed the successful Broadway play, "Art.").
Deeply involved as a patron of performing arts groups, he was a longtime supporter of Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Memorial contributions may be made in his name to Virginia Mason Medical Center Foundation, 1100 9th Ave., Seattle 98101, Minority Affairs Scholarship Fund, University of Washington, Mail-stop 355845, Seattle 98195; Lifelong AIDS Alliance, 1002 E. Seneca St., Seattle 98122; and Plan USA: Helping Children Through Sponsorship, planusa.org. A planned memorial service will be private.
