By Railfan & Railroad Magazine 

Thomas Haskell Garver, author, curator and long-time associate of legendary night photographer O. Winston Link, died on June 9, in Madison, Wis. He was 89 years old. 

Garver was the curator and director of several art museums for nearly 30 years, but in the world of railroading, it was his work with Link that he’ll be most remembered for. In the 1950s, Garver worked as Link’s assistant on multiple trips to Virginia and West Virginia to shoot Norfolk & Western steam locomotives in their final years of service. Link’s images would go on to receive wide acclaim in both the railroad and art worlds and part of that was due to Garver’s advocacy. From 1994 until Link’s death in 2001, Garver served as Link’s business agent. He also authored the seminal book on Link’s work, “The Last Steam Railroad in America,” published in 2000. 

After Link’s death, Garver helped preserve both his images and his legacy as the organizing curator of the O. Winston Link Museum, which opened in the former N&W station there in 2004. 

Just last summer, he did a presentation about Link for the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. 

But even beyond his work with Link, Garver had a storied career. He served as an assistant director of the Fine Arts Exhibitions of the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962 and later became assistant director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass. In 1968, he became the founding director of the Newport Harbor Art Museum (now Orange County Museum of Art) in California. He also served for five years as the curator of exhibitions at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. In 1980, he moved to Madison, Wis., to become the director of the Madison Art Center. 

Garver is survived by his brother, John T. Garver, of Central Point, Ore. At Tom’s request, there will be no funeral or memorial service, but a friend will travel to San Francisco with his ashes to be sent into the air from the center span of the Golden Gate Bridge, a structure he regarded as “being one the few creations of humankind which truly complement and enhance its natural environment.”