Donald Featherstone | Flamingo artist, 79

Donald Featherstone, 79, an artist widely recognized as the creator of the plastic pink flamingo, the lawn ornament that became one of the most popular and disdained artifacts of suburban life, died Monday in Fitchburg, Mass.

The cause was Lewy body dementia, said his wife, Nancy Featherstone.

Mr. Featherstone was turning 21, a recent hire at Union Products in Leominster, Mass., when the company introduced the product that would install him in the annals of lawn and garden statuary.

More than 20 million of the birds reportedly have been sold since their debut in 1957.

Mr. Featherstone dismissed the critics - including many homeowner associations - who failed to see the beauty in his ornaments. A flamingo, he said, "would look elegant in front of the White House."

Mr. Featherstone, the recipient of an Ig Nobel Prize honoring "achievements that make people laugh, and then think," designed hundreds of figures during his career at Union Products, where he rose to president and co-owner before retiring in 2000.

Today, the flamingos - with Mr. Featherstone's signature - are made by a successor to Union Products. A flamingo in the 2011 animated feature Gnomeo and Juliet, based on the Shakespeare tragedy, was named Featherstone. - Washington Post