Louis Nelson, an industrial designer who conceived a central element of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, drawing on his experiences as a peacetime Army officer and art student when he encountered veterans of the Korean conflict, died on Dec. 4 in Manhattan. He was 88.

His death, at Mount Sinai Hospital, was caused by cancer discovered when he was hospitalized after a fall at his home several weeks ago, said his wife, the singer Judy Collins.

In a career of more than 50 years, Mr. Nelson was best known for his graphic design of the 164-foot mural wall at the Korean War Veterans Memorial, dedicated in 1995. The wall is a long expanse of gray granite with etched portraits of 2,400 military personnel who supported the combat troops in the Korean War, from 1950 to 1953.

The highly polished surface reflects the 19 statues of poncho-clad soldiers sculpted by Frank Gaylord facing the wall. Visitors passing between the wall and the nearly 8-foot-tall statues are led to a reflecting pool.

“The wall really holds it all together,” said Bernard S. Champoux, a vice-chair of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation and a retired general who commanded the U.S. Eighth Army in South Korea in peacetime. The mural “cleverly includes everybody,” he said, highlighting support personnel from different service branches.

In designing the mural for what is sometimes called “the forgotten war,” Mr. Nelson studied archival photos of Korea veterans who served “and silently came home,” he wrote in a memoir, “Mosaic: War Monument Mystery” (2021).

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Robinson’s history of comments that have been widely criticized as antisemitic and anti-gay made him a deeply polarizing figure in North Carolina long before his bid for governor was upended last week by a CNN report that he had called himself a “Black NAZI” and praised slavery while posting on a pornographic website between 2008 and 2012. Now, some of his allies are abandoning him. Most of his senior campaign staff members have resigned. The Republican Governors Association said that its pro-Robinson ads would expire tomorrow and that no new ones had been placed. And former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Robinson in the spring, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids,” did not mention him once during his rally in the state over the weekend.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.ye7