Ann Shengold, 62
Ann Shengold, an artist and art director who lived on Sherrill Road in East Hampton for several years, died of lung cancer on Nov. 26 at home in Mattituck with her mother, Paula Shengold, at her side. She was 62 and had been ill for a year and a half, her mother said.
Ms. Shengold’s creativity was an inspiration to all who knew her, her mother said. Her career included directorships at the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum, the Smithtown Arts Council, and the Knight Gallery at Spirit Square in Charlotte, N.C.
“She was a really good friend,” said Doug Kuntz, a photographer and contributor to The Star. “We used to sit at Main Beach and spend hours talking about anything and everything. She was a very easygoing person who had a really big heart.”
Ms. Shengold was born on April 13, 1953, in Manhattan to Dr. Melvin Shengold and the former Paula Schlissel. She grew up in Commack, graduating from high school there before going to the Philadelphia College of Art and then to Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt., where she earned a master’s degree.
She worked at the Smithtown Arts Council for several years before moving to Charlotte in the 1980s and spending some 15 years there. When she left the Knight Gallery at Spirit Square, “she was missed by her colleagues, who spoke of the joy her innovative and artistic decisions brought to the center,” her mother said. “As an art administrator, she was known for bringing the best in national and international art to every venue she worked.”
She spent a year at the William Steeple Davis Trust’s artist-in-residence program in Orient, continuing to develop her artistic gifts. In the 1990s, she became a reiki master, and shared her expertise and love for art at the Parrish Art Museum, then in Southampton.
Ms. Shengold’s father died before her, as did a brother, Robert Shengold, who lived in East Hampton. “She adored her younger brother, Rob,” Mr. Kuntz said.
Throughout her illness, she was comforted by daily trips to New Suffolk Beach. She was a muse to many, her mother said, and remains a shining inspiration.
Ms. Shengold was cremated.