Elspeth Furlaud, 92
Elspeth Banks Furlaud, an artist and longtime summer resident of Dunemere Lane in East Hampton, died surrounded by her family on Feb. 5 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She was 92.
Ms. Furlaud was the founder and proprietor of 124/Limited Art Editions, a printmaking studio and gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In 1967, she was among the 12 founding members of the Volunteer Organization of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, she developed a program to introduce Greek, Roman, and Islamic art to inner-city high school students. Today, the Volunteer Organization numbers more than 1,250 men and women who work throughout the museum.
As an artist, Ms. Furlaud “deployed a deft hand and an exquisite sense of color to produce landscapes, studies from life, and explorations of the aesthetic possibilities of geometric shapes,” her family wrote.
Ms. Furlaud was fascinated by people, her family wrote, and “knew a great deal about almost everyone with whom she came in contact,” which allowed her to speak, usually humorously, about them. They said she had a quick wit, ready laughter, and an “unending supply of indelible, funny, and beautifully told stories.”
Elspeth Banks Furlaud was born on Oct. 13, 1924, in Manhattan to Alexander Scott Banks and the former Dorothea Cutler. She grew up in Suffern, N.Y., and returned to Manhattan as a young adult. She graduated from Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Conn., and Finch College in Manhattan.
During World War II, she worked as a censor for the Navy. In Manhattan, she was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club and of the Brick Church on Park Avenue.
Ms. Furlaud’s marriage ended in divorce. She is survived by three children. They are Richard Furlaud, Eleanor Adam, and Tamsin Rachofsky, all of Manhattan and East Hampton, and by seven grandchildren. Two sisters died before her, as did a grandson.
Ms. Furlaud was cremated and her ashes are to be buried at Airmont Lutheran Cemetery in Suffern, next to her parents and a brother who died before she was born.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Alex Adam Gallery, 78 West 120th Street in Manhattan, on March 4 at 5 p.m.
The family has suggested memorial contributions to the Volunteer Organization at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York 10028, or its website. Donors have been asked to write “Volunteer Organization” on the subject line of any check or online donation.