Herman LeRoy Emmet III, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist and author who lived in East Hampton for almost 20 years, died on Nov. 4 in New York City, The Star has learned. The cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 78.
In 1987 Mr. Emmet won the Canon Photo Essayist award in the National Press Photographers Association-sponsored 45th annual Pictures of the Year Awards for his book “Fruit Tramps: A Family of Migrant Farmworkers.” The book depicts seven years in the life of a family as they move from field to field. The project was featured in many shows and in magazines such as GEO and Esquire.
“It’s rare, but here is a whole book — and a gem it is — in which text and photographs echo and drive, rather than peacefully war with each other,” Judith Mara Gutman wrote of “Fruit Tramps” in The New York Times. Mr. Emmet’s photographs “are integral to the story, words bringing readers to a scene, photographs taking us right in.” The effect was “electric,” she wrote.
“My admiration for his work soars,” the photographer Cornell Capa wrote in the book’s foreword.
Mr. Emmet’s photographs have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, and several prints from “Fruit Tramps” are in its permanent collection.
A descendant of the orator and Irish Republican rebel leader Robert Emmet, who was known as “Bold Robert,” Herman LeRoy Emmet III was born on Jan. 21, 1943, in Wareham, Mass., to Herman Emmet Jr. and Margaret V. Foster Emmet. He attended the Fay School and then St. Mark’s School, both in Southborough, Mass. He studied at Yale University’s summer sessions and graduated from Georgetown University in 1967 with a degree in linguistics. He was fluent in four languages.
Serving in the Army in Vietnam, he was exposed to the herbicide known as Agent Orange, which the federal Department of Veterans Affairs subsequently recognized as being associated with Parkinson’s disease. After Vietnam, he served in Eritrea until 1971. Upon his return, he obtained a master’s degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
He and Jean Elaine Osborn were married at Trinity Church in Manhattan in 1980. The couple lived on Central Park West, and shortly thereafter had a daughter and a son. In 1989 the family moved to East Hampton, where they were members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and, in Amagansett, the Devon Yacht Club. They lived in Paris from 1994 to 2000, followed by a year in Barcelona, Spain. During those years, Mr. Emmet worked on many different photojournalistic projects and wrote several books.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2009. The disease was mild at first. He became wheelchair-bound after about six years but did not allow it to curtail his ambition, his family wrote.
An unexpected change took place, however: Mr. Emmet put down his cameras and began to paint on canvas. Where his photojournalism had primarily been black-and-white realism, his paintings were colorful, surreal, and full of surprise. Living in Winter Park, Fla., for the last six years, he painted constantly until his illness prevented him. He had five exhibitions in the last few years, his family said.
“Herman had the remarkable capacity to combine the permutations of his varied talents, be it in music, linguistics, etymology, painting, writing, and photography,” his family said. “He was a classical guitarist, favoring Segovia.”
He is survived by his wife, who lives in Winter Park, and their children, Lilly O. Emmet of Winter Springs, Fla., and Spencer O. Emmet of Birmingham, Ala. Two granddaughters, Temple Ruth Emmet and Beatrice LeRoy Emmet of Birmingham, also survive, as do two brothers, Reginald Byrne of Australia and William LeRoy Emmet of Maine, a sister, Mary Margaret Alvarez de Toledo of Connecticut, and many nieces and nephews. Another sister died before him.
Mr. Emmet will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
This article has been changed from its original and print versions because Mr. Emmet did not study in Dijon, France, as originally stated.
