Donald Featherstone: Creator of pink plastic lawn flamingo dies at 79
Source: Associated Press
The creator of the pink plastic lawn flamingo, the ultimate symbol of American lawn kitsch, has died. Donald Featherstone was 79.
Featherstone's wife, Nancy, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that her husband died Monday at an elder care facility in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, after a long battle with Lewy body dementia.
Featherstone, a trained sculptor with a classical art background, created the flamingo in 1957 for plastics company Union Products, modeling it after a bird he saw in National Geographic. Millions of the birds have been sold.
Featherstone worked for Union for 43 years, inventing hundreds of plastic products in that time and rising to the position of president before his retirement in 1999.
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Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/donald-featherstone-creator-of-pink-plastic-lawn-flamingo-dies-at-79
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I bought a pair for the hell of it about 15 years ago (they go in and out of style 
). The supposed "real" ones had his name embossed on the plastic somewhere. Ironically, the metal "legs" seems to have spawned the idea for using similar metal supports for the now-ubiquitous lawn signs.
We used to do fundraisers with flamingo "yard uglies". Collect from your coworkers, and we would put a few dozen of these metal birds in your boss/friend's yard. Good times.
