When my father passed away suddenly last September, it was important, as the eldest, to reassure my mother and siblings that I would do my best with his legacy. I did not know how I would do it and I am still trying to figure that out. All I know is that I want to document the process, to record my findings as I sort through the once off-limits private studio and private thoughts of my dad.
It has taken nearly a year for the grief to dull down just enough to walk around the studio let alone sit amid the drawings, paintings, vintage photos, writings, ephemera, and odd collections of my father, the late great Nick LaBella of Oyster Bay, AKA Nino Baldino. Here is a quick pass through before I start parsing and digging.
Here is a shot of the desk after a few hours of clearing off a few shelves. Teddy Roosevelt gets a hero's location on the desk as well as the last drawing he was working on of a young boy.
Also a drawing from 1946 of a few favorite ballplayers arranged in a group portrait. 
And one more pencil drawing. 