Nim MacFadyen

William Loyall “Nim” MacFadyen was born and raised in New York, and both he and his writing exhibit the tenacity and diversity that are a New Yorker’s birthright. Nim earned a degree in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and for some years pursued a career in fine art while earning a living as a housepainter. He used to say, when asked what he did, that he was a capital “P” and small “p” painter. 

Nim and his wife Suzanne purchased, lived in, improved, and sold more homes than either of them could count, mostly in Maine and Rhode Island. They raised and nurtured a wonderful daughter, Zinzi, and now two equally wonderful grandsons, James and Russell. They owned (or more accurately, were owned by) a succession of loveable but badly behaved golden retrievers – like the houses, too many to count.

Nim was a writer his entire life. His letters to friends are masterful, treasured by their recipients. His eulogies are legendary, simultaneously profound and hilarious. In the early 2000s, with the advent of the internet, he began posting occasional contributions to websites and blogs. As his output increased his range expanded to include fiction, and his audience grew.

Nim died of complications from lung cancer on September 3, 2024, in hospice care near his home in Union, Maine. Picture This is his only published book – a gift to his existing readers, and to anyone who has not yet discovered the delights of his carefully crafted prose.