Guenther Nachtrab

Guenther Nachtrab, aged 84 passed away on February 7, 2025 at Taos Enchanted Village assisted living after a five-year journey with dementia. His wife of 25 years, Kandace Laass Nachtrab, was at his side. Guenther was born October 24, 1940 in Nuremberg, Germany to Else and Richard Nachtrab. Siblings Inge and Rudolph are both deceased. His first marriage to Gertrud Luber, mother of his two children, ended in divorce. He is survived by son Ralph Nachtrab of Munich, Germany; daughter Claudia Markham of Fairbanks, AK; sister-in-law Susie and nieces Sabine, Carola and Petra all residing in Germany.

Although Guenther’s dream was to study art, his mother insisted that Nachtrab men were engineers and so would he be. An apprenticeship at Grundig led to a tech job with ZDF (Germany’s second television network) in Cologne. But he was a born salesman and subsequently joined several international electronic firms in Frankfort, Paris and Munich as a sales engineer. General Instruments, an American firm, sent him to Malta in 1976 and due to an Alitalia strike, he was diverted to London on his way home to Munich. Kandace was on that plane and after a whirlwind romance of three months, Guenther made his first visit to the U.S. They married in New York City, where Kandace resided, on the last day of that trip.

After two years together in Munich, the Nachtrab’s moved to Northern Virginia where Guenther worked for a small electronics export firm. He later formed his own firm, but after a divorce in 1987, he wanted a major life change. During his lifetime he maintained his love of the visual arts and the Southwest, the latter fueled by a boyhood book series about the American West by German author Karl May. He moved to Taos to fulfill his dream of owning a contemporary art gallery and established Atelier751 in the early 90’s. He lived the life of a Taos gallerist with frequent openings featuring DC and International artists as well as many well-known locals including Elizabeth Couse, John Suazo, John Mayer, and Thom Wheeler to name only a few. He augmented his gallery business working in guest services and as a ski instructor at Taos Ski Valley, which he loved. He especially enjoyed teaching children.

In 2009 after the death of his third wife, Davida Randall of Tucson, he reunited with Kandace. They re-married and enjoyed a second chance at life together with many new friends, travel, opera, movies and exciting road trips in their RV.

Gifts in honor of Guenther would be welcome at Taos Opera Institute or Taos Center for the Arts. These two organizations fed his love of art and culture!