Local designer David Lovell, 86, died Sunday. He made a name for himself with his eye for color and design. Previous generations of Brookhavenites will recall his antebellum home on Storm Avenue called Edgewood where he lived and worked.

Long time friend Patricia Jacobs said Lovell gave Brookhaven’s mantra – Keep Brookhaven Beautiful! – its truth.

“He did more than anyone I know to make Brookhaven beautiful,” Jacobs said. “In every phase of Brookhaven he was always willing to give advice and inspire people.

“He shared his gifts for color and design,” Jacobs said, “and he was very generous with those gifts when it came to his community – he spent a lot of volunteer hours adding his special touch for events. He was unique and fun – he was always that guy at the top of a ladder with an array of paints, putting that little something extra.”

Jacobs said he was always helping someone with event planning or making a room new and special.

“I knew him for over 55 years – he grew up here,” she said. “He was a great artist, very talented. And he loved Brookhaven. He was always willing to help and loved sharing ideas about how to make an event special. And, his ideas were fresh.”

Edgewood served as an events center and a place for Lovell to live and create. His great-nephew Dustin Walker said his great-uncle was still designing and creating up until the very last.

“He never was totally retired,” Walker said. “He worked up until the last day he could – up until an accident in April set him back.”

He said Lovell hosted wedding receptions and parties and other events at Edgewood and that through the years Lovell did a lot of different things with Edgewood, including a bed and breakfast at one time. He said the community will surely miss him.

“He really was an asset,” Walker said. “He is probably most well known for his interior design all through the community. For instance, the newest fire station was designed by him.” He said the Hugh Wall home on Natchez Avenue was also one of Lovell’s projects.

Lovell was trained as a portrait artist but turned to interior design to make a living and stay in his beloved hometown of Brookhaven. Walker said Lovell also designed movie sets in Mississippi for films such as “Trilogy of a Marriage” and “The Miss Firecracker Contest.”

Jacobs said Lovell made many, many friends over the years.

“There was something special about him,” Jacobs explained, “when you worked on a project or you needed help redesigning a room – by the time you got through with that project you’d become old friends with David. Everyone loved him.”