JOHN BENSON

He designed the letters and placement and carved the inscriptions that appear throughout the Memorial in both the outdoor gallery rooms and the passageways linking them.

With more than thirty years experience and devotion to the exacting craft of stone carving, John Benson is widely recognized as America's leading designer and carver of monumental lettering in stone. Since 1961, he has worked at the John Stevens Shop in Newport, Rhode Island, and assumed its ownership in 1973. Founded in 1705, the John Stevens Shop is one of the oldest continuously operating business establishments in the United States. For nearly 300 years, it has maintained an unbroken standard of excellence in the carving of stone inscription.

Under Mr. Benson, the shop has executed numerous prestigious commissions throughout the country, including the inscriptions on the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. In 1981, Mr. Benson participated in the design of the inscriptions for Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial; and in 1989, carved the lettering on the Memorial to the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, Alabama. In addition to his architectural work, he has designed and carved personal memorials for such notables as George Balanchine, Lillian Hellman, and Tennessee Williams.

John Benson was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1939.