New York Open Center - In Memoriam: Adele Heyman

In Memoriam: Adele Heyman

Adele Heyman 1959-2008

One of the Open Center's guiding lights, Adele Heyman, for many years our Managing Program Director and with the OC since 1983, died Friday night of leukemia. We are unbelievably sad. Adele shouldered so much for the Center, designing great programs with her beloved teachers, endlessly pouring over catalog creation, determined to make each one better than the last, and succeeding. Her wisdom, integrity and compassion poured forth in countless ways, striking just the right grace note for those around her. She had a great sense of humor and found abundant laughter in life's many absurd situations, including those stressful crunch times before catalog printing.

She loved the Open Center's annual holiday merry-making, our two-week long Kringle season and party, where she wickedly presided over food, fun and games like a mischievous elf. In the culture at large, Adele understood the wider holistic world as well as its nitty-gritty details, weaving all together with knowledge and style. Her role and her presence were crucial in growing the Open Center to a place of high standards and cultural influence. She touched the hearts of countless people, broadening their world and offering new paths to walk in this life. Too soon, too soon we have to say goodbye to our own Adele. One of our pillars. But her light will live on as part of us, and may we always carry the very best of her.

Walter Beebe

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