WATERLOO - Dale Phelps' memory lives on through his love for the arts and the Phelps Youth Pavilion.

Phelps, 69, of Waterloo, died at home Monday after battling prostate cancer since 1993.

Friends are calling the news a tremendous loss to the art community. A longtime supporter of the Waterloo Center for the Arts, Phelps served on its Cultural and Arts Commission for many years, and he brought public art to downtown as chairman of the commission's public art committee.

"He'll be very missed by the staff and the commission and is pretty irreplaceable," said Cammie Scully, executive director for the center.

Phelps fueled a lifelong appreciation for the arts and rarely missed an arts center event, said Karol Rae Hoth, current Cultural and Arts Commission chairwoman.

He also was instrumental as a member of the capital campaign committee for the youth pavilion, which has reached more than 33,000 youths since it opened a year ago, said Susie Heaton, co-chairwoman of the pavilion's capital campaign.

"Despite his quiet and unassuming demeanor, there was no one more passionate about making the youth pavilion a reality than Dale Phelps," Heaton wrote in an e-mail to The Courier on Wednesday. "He was a brilliant man whose generosity was matched only by his humility. (The pavilion) truly could not - would not - have happened without him."

Phelps was never one who liked fundraisers, Hoth said. But when called on to generate financial support for the pavilion, he stepped out of his comfort zone.

"He doggedly - and that's a word I love to use with him - went after the people who he wanted to interest in contributing to the importance of this kind of creativity," Hoth said. "Follow-up calls, letters, he did it so well."

To clear a final hurdle, Phelps and his wife, Dianne, contributed $500,000 to the project, the largest single gift donated by an individual or family.

Phelps, a 1957 West High School graduate and retired orthopedic surgeon, took art classes at the former city rec center on East Fourth Street in the 1950s and '60s. He later practiced orthopedics in Waterloo for 28 years and enjoyed farming and traveling. In retirement, he received a bachelor's degree in 2005 from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

His artwork, primarily woodcuts and linoleum prints, have been featured in many exhibits. He also used meditation and guided imagery as part of his medical treatment for cancer. A series hangs in a fourth-floor hallway at Allen Hospital.

The Phelpses also supported the UNI theater department and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony.

Memorial services are tentatively set for next week with no visitation planned. The arts center also will host an event to honor Phelps, Scully said. Details will be announced at a later date.

Contact Tina Hinz at (319) 291-1484 or tina.hinz@wcfcourier.com.