Toward the end of his artist life, Philip D. Joyce loved calligraphy, the clearly defined lines of it, above drawing and painting and all the other arts he had spent a lifetime enjoying and teaching in schools around Pittsburgh.

"It's a very disciplined form of art and that's the way he was -- he was very disciplined in what he did," said Helen Joyce, his wife of 51 years. "Everything was black and white and there were no gray areas with him. Sometimes it got him into a lot of trouble, especially with administrators."

Mr. Joyce, who had been living in North Cape May, N.J., since retiring from Shady Side Academy in 1996, died July 16 of lung cancer. He was 76.

Although he ultimately devoted his life to creating and teaching art, Mr. Joyce first worked at the former Gimbel's Department Store, then as a steamfitter, after graduating from St. Mary of the Mount High School in 1950. The next summer he worked as a lifeguard in Cape May, N.J., where his family had vacationed each summer since he and his brother "were in knickers," according to his wife.

In January 1953, Mr. Joyce joined the Coast Guard, reaching the rank of boatswain's mate first class before his discharge in 1959.

When he and his wife moved back to Pittsburgh, the mill workers were out on strike and he couldn't find work as a steamfitter, so he went to what was then St. Joseph's Academy, an art academy on Larimer Avenue.

There, an 83-year-old nun who had graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology -- later to become Carnegie Mellon University -- recognized his love for the arts and encouraged him to seek a fine arts degree from her alma mater.

Mr. Joyce then earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Carnegie Tech, graduating in 1964 and getting his first job as a middle school art teacher in Peters. He later earned a master's degree in fine arts from Carnegie Mellon as well.

Mr. Joyce spent the next 32 years teaching calligraphy, art and art history in Peters Township, Pittsburgh Public Schools and Mt. Lebanon school districts, Shady Side Academy and various art programs at Carnegie Mellon University.

As a teacher, Mr. Joyce did not hand out undeserved praise, said David Edwards, a former student who said he became a professional artist in part because of Mr. Joyce's influence. His mentor was "a man of many layers," he said.

"As an artist, he was difficult to please but his talent as a teacher was that he was able to get you to perform, to create and push yourself even harder to please him," said Mr. Edwards, whose work includes "Pittsburgh's Painted Pachyderm" and the new "Welcome to Deutchtown" mural on the North Side. "If you could just get a smile from him or a small word of encouragement that you had done OK, that was all you were going to get."

But while words of praise were sometimes difficult to earn, Mr. Joyce's support of his students had no end, Mr. Edwards said.

"He'd be a little tough on you at first but once you got into his good graces you'd never forget the man," he said.

Mr. Joyce, he said, would demonstrate a technique to struggling students, or show them examples from some of his many books of art. Students were welcome to stop by his home on the Shady Side Academy campus for a cup of coffee and some conversation on the front porch.

And over the years, he kept 35 mm slides of every student's final project, organized by class and year, said his wife. After three decades of students, those slides -- like the books of art and art history he collected throughout his lifetime -- now number in the thousands, said his wife.

"Some of those students would probably faint if they saw what he had kept," she said.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Joyce is survived by his daughter, Mary Helen Ryan ; sons Patrick and Philip; a brother, Ernest; and three grandchildren.

A funeral service was Monday.

A memorial service will be held in Pittsburgh in the fall. The family requests donations be made to The St. Mary of the Mount Alumni Association, 403 Grandview Ave., Pittsburgh 15211.