Retired Journal News chief photographer Warren W. Inglese, who distinguished himself on battlefields across Europe in World War II and went on to win more than 150 awards for his photojournalism, died early Monday of the effects of a recent fall. He was 87.
Warren joined Westchester County Publishers, later to become Gannett Suburban Newspapers and The Journal News, in 1948. After 14 years working in Westchester, he shifted “temporarily” to Rockland, where he worked until his retirement in 1991. From 1980 on, he was chief photographer, directing an award-winning staff.
During his 43-year career, Warren won innumerable state, regional and national press awards and photographed heroes like Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard, Scott Carpenter and Deke Slayton and villains like those who staged the 1981 Nanuet Brinks robbery. He chronicled triumphs like the Statue of Liberty centennial, and tragedies including the Congers school bus and train crash, when he took both aerial and ground photos. In news photos and portraits, he captured celebrities from Helen Hayes, Johnny Carson, and Paul Newman to Robert Redford, Kenny Rogers and artists Jasper Johns and Louise Nevelson. He photographed his World War II commander Dwight D. Eisenhower and at least five other presidents – Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush. His photos were often carried by Gannett News Service and published in Gannett Co. newspapers across the nation and others around the world.
Warren was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize. One nominated photo showed white-uniformed nursing students clutching roses gathered around a woman who collapsed at their Rockland Community College graduation. The image at once exemplified Warren’s ability to record the news and do so with drama, emotion and sensitivity.
In retirement, Warren expanded his artistry, doing painting and sculpture in addition to photography. He and his wife Patricia, a painter and papermaker whom he wed in 1973, traveled frequently. Warren often printed photos of France and other destinations on Patricia’s handmade linen archival paper. Warren perfected an intricate printing technique called bromoil and other alternative printing processes. One of his alternative process prints, of artist Edward Hopper’s lamp, won first prize in a national competition at the Bergen Museum of Art and Science.
Because of their appreciation for Warren’s composition and print quality, his work has been in private collections of Ed McMahon, Hal David, Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller and longtime friend Helen Hayes, among others.
Warren was born in Mount Vernon in 1925 and grew up in New Rochelle before going off to war in 1944. He was first scout for the 5th Army, 91st Division, 361st Infantry G Company in Italy. He was awarded the Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars for meritorious achievement in battle, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, three campaign battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation earned when his unit cracked the outer defenses of Bologna after capturing key positions on Monte Adone and Monte Rumici in April 1945.
Following the war, Warren became a private pilot and maintained his license until recent years.
Funeral arrangements will be private.
Hannemann Funeral Home, Inc.
88 South Broadway
Nyack, NY
(845) 358-0573
hannemannfuneralhome.com