Josephine 'Jo' Mead was born in 1919 on a farm in Michigan, and in 1938 moved to Chicago, where she began her career as a commercial artist. She studying design and wartime ship camouflage at the Institute of Design, now the Illinois Institute of Technology, with Bauhaus school artist Laszlo Maholy-Nagy. A dynamic and innovative woman, she opened her own interior design studio in 1949. She created a sculpture business "Jo Mead Designs" in her garage, and built it into a successful venture. The company's eclectic catalog ranged from museum-quality reproductions of ship prows and architectural fragments to cigar store Indians. The business, which Ms. Mead ran from the 1950s to 1980s, was highly respected, had showrooms in every major design trade center in the nation and was written about in leading home and decor magazines, said Faye Wrubel, a longtime friend. Ms. Mead was the subject of an article in the Tribune's Sunday Magazine Fall Fashion Supplement in 1996. Ms. Mead received three national design awards. Her works found their way into homes, hotels, restaurants, movie sets and museums, Wrubel said. Even the Smithsonian Institution has a Jo Mead original--her casting for NASA of the imprint of the original boots Buzz Aldrin wore on his moon walk. Her first factory, on Goose Island in Chicago, employed 25 people. She moved the factory to 17 N. Elizabeth St. in 1964. Ms. Mead also was a preservationist. Her projects included the restoration of seven buildings, including a 135-year-old brewery in Galena, and an antique carousel from the Riverview Amusement Park. The carousel is now in the Six Flags Over Georgia theme park in Atlanta. Ms. Mead passed away at age 81 Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 in Grant Hospital in Chicago.