Stephen Reese, longtime photographer and teacher, dies at 84

Stephen Reese, 84, of Penn Valley, a highly regarded photographer who specialized in portraits and a longtime math teacher in the Philadelphia school system, died Wednesday, March 23, of an intracranial hemorrhage at Lankenau Medical Center.

Mr. Reese spent 30 years, beginning in the 1960s, teaching math to high school students in Philadelphia. But his lifelong love of photography and art — and his innate ability to put subjects at ease and capture just the right moment — led him to pick up his camera in the 1980s and simultaneously teach and make photographs.

“He had a passion for portraits of families,” said his wife Helen. “He was so good at engaging with children that he knew how to wait, how to get just the right photo at just the right time. He taught me a lot about patience.”

Mr. Reese operated Stephen Reese Photography studios for three decades in Narberth, Merion, and Penn Valley, commemorating weddings, religious ceremonies, family milestones, and other events. He also made images of people, pets, and everyday life for hundreds of clients along the Main Line and elsewhere.

He urged his subjects to share their feelings through personal expressions and visited art museums to study portraits and sharpen his eye for angles, color, and composition.

Quirky and vibrant yet even-tempered, he embraced the camera on his cellphone later in life because he was able to catch poignant moments without adjusting settings or modifying lights. If it was real and raw and insightful, he liked it.

“He had a special eye,” said Yvonne Brand, one of his longtime clients. “He was able to visualize what he wanted and catch it quickly when he saw it. He was a special person.”

Born Aug. 10, 1937, in Philadelphia, Mr. Reese rode horses with his father and taught riding as a youth at summer camps. He considered going to art school or becoming a rabbi after high school but instead graduated from Temple University in 1959.

He married Gloria Mattson, and they had daughters Wendy and Robin. They divorced later, and he met Helen Schaeffer through friends in 2001. They married in 2003, and he became close to her sons, Avi and Jon Schaeffer.

Smart, anxious to learn about practically everything, and comfortable with young people, he taught math at several high schools in Philadelphia and retired from John Bartram High in the late 1980s. He hired his daughter Wendy as his photography assistant, and they bonded during shoots.

She made sure the equipment was in order and ready to go, and he put the subjects at ease. “He was laid back, and everybody loved us,” she said. “He made everybody feel comfortable.”

Mr. Reese was unpredictable, and his sense of humor and unconventional behavior left his family and friends with many memorable stories. He lost a shoe at a New York diner and left his phone number with the manager in case someone found it later. He needed a ride home one day, so he found a pizza shop, ordered a pie to be delivered and caught a ride home with the delivery driver.

He watched Judge Judy and Rachel Maddow on TV, liked practical jokes and would go to great lengths to get a bargain price, even for a cup of coffee. “He was larger than life, and so genuine,” said his wife, an author who is working on a stage play called Life with Reese.

Mr. Reese had open-heart surgery in the 1990s and suffered from other ailments. But he never let misfortune keep him down, his wife said. “He was magical,” she said.

Brand, his longtime friend and client, said: “He was ageless, a wonderful soul.”

In addition to his wife, children, and stepchildren, Mr. Reese is survived by a grandson, a brother, two stepgrandsons, and other relatives. His former wife and a sister died earlier.

A service was held on March 25.

Donations in his name may be made to the World Central Kitchen for Ukrainian refugees, 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20001.