Kenneth M. Wilson, 83, a noted glass historian and a former Henry Ford Museum curator known as "Mr. American Glass," died March 29 in Punta Gorda, Fla. He had leukemia.
The Philadelphia native died less than two months before the scheduled release of his fifth book, an antique collectors' guide to the works of Pairpoint Glass, the oldest American glassmaker.
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The White House once called on Mr. Wilson to inspect and estimate the age of each window.
His interest in glass from the Colonial era onward was sparked when he was assigned to design a display at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts 50 years ago.
From there, he moved to the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y., and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., where he served as director of collections and preservation.
Mr. Wilson wrote books on antique bottles and flasks, New England glassmaking and the Toledo Museum of Art's glass collection.
He received an award in 2000 from the Richards Foundation and the Corning Museum for research on American glass.
Mr. Wilson received the Purple Heart after nearly dying of wounds from machine-gun fire during World War II. He was serving with the Army in Germany.
Survivors include his wife, Alice.
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