David X. Young

Painter, Photographer, Filmmaker David Young was born in Eastham, Cape Cod on Feb. 15, 1930. He passed away from emphysema on May 22, 2001. A Fulbright Scholar to Haiti, he painted, filmed and studied its vodun culture for over three decades. In Manhattan he shared his loft (821 Sixth Avenue) in the flower district with LIFE photographer W. Eugene Smith, maintaining friendships with Jackson Pollock, William Dekooning, Franz Kline and Zero Mostel. For five years he hosted weekly jazz sessions where musicians as diverse as Thelonious Monk, Pee Wee Russell, Zoot Sims and Charles Mingus regularly played.