Jake Wallis

Jake Wallis (AKA David Antony Wallis) died from brain cancer on May 22, 2016. He was 70 years old. 

Born in the town of Hove in Sussex, England, on October 8, 1945 to Wing Commander Kenneth Horatio Wallis and Peggy Mary (née Stapley), Jake and his family moved to Norfolk at the age of 18. He went to agricultural college, then art college in Worthing.  When he moved to London, he found his calling after a chance meeting with Angus McBean, the famous British portrait photographer. Jake became McBean’s assistant. And so a life behind the lens began. 

Jake swiftly became one of the top commercial photographers with an international reputation. He specialised in car and landscape photography – a job that demanded he travel the world, something he relished. He married Fanny Crane with whom he had three children. 

Later he moved to Ireland, the Emerald Isle, and from there to the even bigger landscapes of Montana when he married Laurie. After Laurie’s death, he married and later separated with Nancy. But they were reunited and Nancy nursed him through his ill health, along with his great friend Patti.

Jake will always be remembered for his love of music and fun, his sharp, irreverent wit, generosity of spirit, and for making friends wherever he went. 

He is survived by his three children, Hannah, Sam and Molly, who thank Nancy, Patti and the hospice nurses and staff of Clark Fork Valley Hospital for all their love, kindness and dedication in Jake’s final weeks.

Jake has been cremated and no service is planned. 

To honor Jake’s memory, memorial donations may be sent to Clark Fork Valley Hospital Hospice and Home Health Care.