BANGOR – The Bangor Museum and Center for History has named the photography room at its 6 State St. location in honor of Michael Stevan Jaffe, said Beth Bohnet, head of the museum’s board of directors. Jaffe, who volunteered at the museum, was the husband of Linda Jaffe, the museum’s director. He died Aug. 16 of complications after heart bypass surgery.

The decision was announced at a memorial service for Michael Jaffe held Aug. 18 at the museum.

“Clearly, it was the thing to do,” said Bohnet. “We wanted to honor Michael as a person. He invested lots of time and energy in the museum’s photo collection and had planned to do more.”

“The photo room,” said Linda Jaffe, “was Michael’s baby. He set it up and he was [in the process of] cataloging the photos.”

Michael Jaffe’s professional background included earning a master of fine arts degree at Parson’s School of Design in New York City, and living and working as a photographer in London for 20 years. He also managed art galleries in New York City and Los Angeles.

“His whole life was visuals,” said Jaffe. She said it seemed natural to ask her husband to get involved with working on the museum’s photo collection when she assumed the duties of museum director a year ago.

Michael Jaffe curated “A Century of Bangor at Play,” 15 photos of people playing sports, which is on exhibit at Bangor City Hall until the end of September. Her husband, Jaffe said, was a sports fan, especially of baseball.

“Michael was big, bold, creative, exuberant and classy,” said Sally Bates, economic developer for the city of Bangor. “He had an excellent eye for art, collectibles and photographs. He spent hours and hours on the [museum’s] photo collection.”

The board’s decision to name the room in honor of Michael Jaffe was unanimous, Bohnet said.

“This would make him so happy,” said Jaffe.