W. Reilly Nail Jr. ’50

Reilly died July 23, 2006, in Abilene, Texas.

Born in Albany, Texas, Reilly graduated from New Mexico Military Institute and served two years in the Navy. At Princeton he majored in art and archaeology, belonged to Quadrangle Club, and was active in Theatre Intime and club sports.

For many years he was a television producer in New York City. His projects included Gunsmoke and the Masters Golf Tournament. He received the New York City Art Directors Award for his documentary, Magic of the Masters.

Reilly was the founding director of the Old Jail Art Center in Albany. In 1968, he had inherited an old jailhouse building. A decade later he decided to refurbish it as an art museum, unheard of in a rural Texas town of fewer than 2,000. Featuring much of his personal collection that he started with a $10 acquisition in high school, the museum opened in 1980. Since then it has greatly expanded and been accredited by the American Association of Museums.

Reilly supported local theater and was a member of Trinity Episcopal in Albany. At the museum’s 25th anniversary, he was described as the “quintessential American . . . who sees in the arts . . . American life of which he is so fond.”

We share the loss of this exceptional classmate with the Nail family.