A 1953 graduate of Dayton’s Fairview-White High School, he studied photography in New York City and served in the Air Force before working for the NCR photographic department.
Christian worked for photographer William Preston Mayfield and eventually purchased his studio with his collection of more than 100,000 historical photos, his obituary noted.
By 2013, the Dayton History organization was curating some 70,000 to 80,000 photographs from Mayfield, a Dayton photographer whose early 20th century work chronicled the 1913 Dayton flood and Orville and Wilbur Wright’s work in perfecting controlled flight.
Many of those photos were among the first taken from an airplane, from above downtown Dayton and other parts of the Miami Valley.
Dayton History Chief Executive and President Brady Kress was saddened to learn of Christian’s passing.
“He was always a gentlemen and always super helpful to us at Dayton History,” Kress said.
‘Incredibly friendly and helpful guy’
Many of the Mayfield photos ended up in the basement of Christian’s Harrison Twp. home.
The basement boasted an array of file cabinets filled with well preserved photos, glass negatives, and other photographic artifacts offering a “crystal clarity” into multiple historic scenes, recalled Ron Rollins, who retired as a Dayton Daily News senior editor in 2020.
“We would spend hours rooting through these in his basement,” Rollins recalled.
As a historian, Christian also performed the photographic research for a trio of books published by the Dayton Daily News: “For The Love Of Dayton,” “Dayton Ink,” and “Gentleman Amateurs: An appreciation of Wilbur and Orville Wright.”
Rollins recalled working with Christian on “For The Love of Dayton.”
“The reason he was a natural choice for it is because he had possession of the old Bill Mayfield photo collection,” Rollins said, adding: “He knew that collection like the back of his hand.”
Former Dayton Daily News chief photographer Skip Peterson knew Christian from the early 1970s.
“He was just an incredibly friendly and helpful guy,” Peterson said. “And no pretense.”
Christian was an accomplished photographer in his own right, Rollins said, noting that the team behind “For The Love of Dayton” enjoyed working with him.
“He was a joy to work with, incredibly smart and knowledgeable about Dayton history and Dayton personalities worth knowing,” Rollins said.
Christian served as president of Aviation Trail, Inc. — a nonprofit that works to promote the Dayton area’s aviation history — from 2004 to 2020.
He also served as president of the Dayton Advertising Club (AAF Dayton) and received the American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Christian is survived by his wife of 64 years Irmgard, of Wiesbaden, Germany, and other family members.
A private graveside service will be held at the Abbottsville Cemetery in Arcanum, Ohio.
In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Aviation Trail Inc. P.O. Box 633, Wright Brothers Station, Dayton OH 45449.
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