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Automotive Today

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Class of 2021 moves in at Wilkes University

<p>NANTICOKE &#8212; Leonardo Davenport, a local artist known for his &#8220;splash art&#8221; &#8212; mainly painting storefront windows for Christmastime and other occasions &#8212; died Tuesday. He was 63.</p><p>Anne Carmody, receptionist at Geisinger Health System on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, said staffers were sad when they learned of Davenport&#8217;s death.</p><p>&#8220;He was such a gentleman, we just fell in love with him. He&#8217;s been here 10 years painting our windows for the holidays. &#8221; Carmody said, adding that Davenport helped bring attention to &#8220;Valley Santa&#8221; when he painted a waif-like child that represents the charity on the Geisinger windows.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of our employees don&#8217;t live in the Wyoming Valley and didn&#8217;t know about Valley Santa. His paintings led people to ask about it,&#8221; Carmody said.</p><p>Mary Rossi, director of administration at Joyce Insurance Group in Pittston, said she&#8217;s known Davenport for several years, since she called and asked him to paint the agency&#8217;s windows.</p><p>Rossi, a founder of the Miles for Michael charity, which is named for the late Michael Joyce and assists families of cancer patients with travel expenses, said Davenport sought help from the charity when his daughter became ill. Every holiday season since, he painted something about Miles for Michael on the agency windows.</p><p>&#8220;He just came up last week to (paint the windows for) the tomato festival for us,&#8221; Rossi said, noting he didn&#8217;t appear in very good health and wasn&#8217;t his usual &#8220;talkative&#8221; self<ins>. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what we&#8217;re going to do for Paint Pittston Pink&#8221; without him</ins>.</p><p>Davenport told the Times Leader in 2015 that his first name wasn&#8217;t always Leonardo. &#8220;I&#8217;d tell people my name was Leonard, and they&#8217;d forget it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I added the &#8216;o&#8217; and now they remember.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He was a kind, gentle, and very happy man and he&#8217;ll be missed so much,&#8221; Ryan Davenport, of Tipp City, Ohio, wrote of his father on Facebook.</p><p>Details for funeral arrangements were not available.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Leonardo Davenport, of &#8216;Signs by Leonardo,&#8217; readies the Roof Cleaning Pros truck owned by Donnie Evans for the Pittston Tomato Festival parade in 2016. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL081716Leonardo.jpg</photo0><caption0>Leonardo Davenport, of &#8216;Signs by Leonardo,&#8217; readies the Roof Cleaning Pros truck owned by Donnie Evans for the Pittston Tomato Festival parade in 2016. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL120215holdaywindows1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke artist Leonardo Davenport is seen painting holiday designs on the Geisinger Health Systems building on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre in November 2015. Davenport, who was known for his &#8216;splash art&#8217; on storefront windows, died Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL120215holdaywindows1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Nanticoke artist Leonardo Davenport is seen painting holiday designs on the Geisinger Health Systems building on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre in November 2015. Davenport, who was known for his &#8216;splash art&#8217; on storefront windows, died Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Nanticoke artist Leonardo Davenport, known for storefront art, dies at 63