Well-Known Sculptor With Ft. Calhoun Ties, Dies In Michigan

The following obituary appeared in the Albion Evening Recorder of Albion, Michigan, reporting on the passing of a well-known sculptor, Jacob Maag, who still had friends in the Omaha and Fort Calhoun area. Committal services will be held at the family plot at the Fort Calhoun Cemetery at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, September 8, the Rev. William Mulford officiating. Memorial contributions in Mr. Maag’s memory may be made to the Albion College Print Collection, department of Visual Arts, Albion, Michigan 49224.

Jacob Maag, 98, Albion, Michigan, died at the Albion Community Hospital on August 25 after a short illness.

He was born in Neunkirch, Switzerland, Oct. 7, 1881, the son of Jacob and Bertha Baumberger Maag. He was married April 2, 1907, in Neunkirch, Switzerland, to Frieda Huber.

After graduating from high school in his native Neunkirch, Mr. Maag pursued his studies as a stone carver and sculptor in Baden, Switzerland. He passed his apprentice examinations in Aargau, Switzerland, with the highest honors and then served as a corporal in the Swiss army. He later studied privately at the “atelier” of the sculptor Angelo Magnioni in Varese, Italy, and subsequently at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy. While in Milan, he was selected as one of the sculptors to do the carving on the Memorial Chapel of King Umberto I of Italy in nearby Monza.

Mr. Maag came to this country in 1905 to live with an uncle, J. B. Kuony, a pioneer Nebraska businessman. He was employed by several Omaha stone and architectural firms and executed the carvings on most of the major public buildings and churches in Omaha and in neighboring states. In the 1930s he was a partner in the firm of Gloe and Maag, manufacturers of ornamental plaster work. After the death of his partner, he continued to work in this media and his designs and plaster work appear in such buildings as the Nebraska State Capitol, the Omaha Union Station, several theatres, high schools and auditoriums.

When Mr. Maag left Omaha to make his home in Albion, the Greater Omaha Historical Society published an interview of him entitled, “Mallet and Chisel: A Fifty Year Saga of Architectural Sculpture.”

His work has been featured in several Michigan newspapers and in recent years full page articles on his life and works have appeared in both the Aargau, Switzerland, “Volksblatt” and the Schahffhauser, Switzerland, “Nachtrichten.”

Mr. Maag continued a life-long interest in German poetry and frequently entertained his friends by reciting Schiller, Goethe and other German masters. More than 50 of his own poems have appeared in various German language publications in this country and abroad.

Mr. Maag was a member of the North American Swiss Alliance and was an officer in the Omaha Swiss Society for many years, serving as both secretary-treasurer and president.

He is survived by two daughters, Regina Maag James of Dallas, Texas, and Jacqueline Maag, Albion. His wife preceded him in death in 1961.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~