When people think of a famous figure of the twentieth century, it is often a Karsh photo that comes to mind. With such a long career in portrait photography, museums and galleries around the world marked special Karsh anniversaries.
Important exhibits have celebrated his seventy-fifth, eightieth and ninetieth birthdays in countries such as Germany, Australia, England and Canada. Queen Elizabeth II attended one show called “Karsh in London” in 1998. At the time, Yousuf was ninety and had retired from his sixty-plus-year career. He had just moved to Boston, the city where he had once studied.
Yousuf could be o big kid obout cake and candy. When a candy village was set up in the lobby of the Château Laurier at Easter, Yousuf could barely resist taking a nibble from a chocolate bunny or a bite of a yellow marzipan duck.
Every December the hotel’s pastry chef would deliver a specially Heavenly Light Lemon Cake to the Karsh suite, along with a Happy Birthday song. One year, Estrellita had a birthday party for her husband. She decorated the table with mice on skis and pencils dressed as toy soldiers. Yousuf had never had a birthday party while growing up.
