Shelton Willis Wright, an Army veteran who built a career producing television commercials and spent decades as a devoted community member on Long Island’s North Shore, died Saturday, June 6. He was 90.

Wright, known to family and friends as Will, was born July 21, 1934, in Detroit. He attended Michigan State University, where he met Nancy Pershing Ryan. The two married on June 15, 1957, a partnership that would span nearly 69 years.

After graduating, Wright was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. His service took him to Long Island City, where he produced motion pictures for the military — an assignment that, as his wife recalled, set the course for the rest of his professional life.

“He was sent to Long Island City, where he made motion pictures for the Army, and that’s how we got out here in the first place,” Nancy Wright said.

Following his discharge, Wright transitioned into the advertising industry, producing television commercials that took him across the globe — from London and Paris to Hong Kong and Venice. Among his most memorable productions was a commercial for Chef Boyardee filmed in St. Mark’s Square in Venice.

“He gathered everything together and put it on film,” Nancy Wright said of her husband’s work as a producer.

The couple eventually settled in Port Washington’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, where they lived for more than 60 years and raised three sons: William, Chris and Charles.

Wright’s creative eye extended well beyond the television set. An avid photographer and devoted camera collector, he developed his own prints in a darkroom he built in the family’s basement, using Leica cameras — German-made equipment he prized for their precision. Many of those photographs still hang on the walls of the family home.

“Photography was a big, big part of his life,” Nancy Wright said.

He also served as an editor of the Leica Historical Society, contributing to a community of fellow enthusiasts who shared his passion for the craft. One of his sons has since carried on that visual legacy, working as an architectural photographer in Seattle.

Source: LI Press