Services for well-known Nashville art historian, former Metro Council Member and civic leader Phil Ponder are scheduled to take place at Saint Stephen Catholic Community in Wilson County.
Ponder died on Sept. 30 at age 93.
Visitation will be held at 4 to 8 p.m., Oct. 8. Visitation will also be held at 1 to 3 p.m., Oct. 9, and will lead into a celebration of life service at 3 to 4 p.m.
Saint Stephen Catholic Community, where Ponder was a longtime parishioner, is located at 14544 Lebanon Rd., in Mt. Juliet.
Ponder’s artwork was known for tracing Nashville’s history and includes 12 Nashville skyline paintings he produced about four years apart starting in 1982. He released his last skyline painting, "Nashville Horizons," in 2025.
The Hermitage resident
also was elected to two terms on Metro Nashville Council starting in 1995 and he spent 10 years working for then-Congressman Jim Cooper while also being on the Metro Planning Commission.
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the recently created "Phil Ponder Memorial Foundation at St. Stephen Catholic Community."
Other designated organizations for donations are Alive Hospice, the nonprofit Greenways for Nashville and the Exchange Club of Donelson-Hermitage.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Phil Ponder: Services set for Nashville art historian and civic giant
