John Benson

Who is John Benson?

John Everett Benson, known as Fud, is an American calligrapher, stonecarver and typeface designer who has created inscriptions for monuments including the John F. Kennedy memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, the National Gallery of Art, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.

John Benson was born in Newport, Rhode Island. He began working for his father, John Howard Benson, at the age of fifteen at The John Stevens Shop. He studied sculpture at Rhode Island School of Design. In 1964, Benson and John Hegnauer were commissioned to design and carve the inscriptions on the John F. Kennedy memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. In Rhode Island, Benson carved a number of inscriptions at the University of Rhode Island's Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons.

He also designed and carved gravestones for Tennessee Williams, Lillian Hellman, and George Balanchine. In 1993, he left the direction of The John Stevens Shop to his son, Nicholas Benson and returned to sculpting full-time. He is currently doing portrait and figurative work in clay and bronze at his studio in Newport, Rhode Island.