Jean Gollay, 97
Jean Gollay, a writer and editor, whose work appeared in The Readers Digest and The New York Times as well as The East Hampton Star, died in Venice, Fla., on Nov. 4, about a month shy of her 98th birthday. She had had several mini-strokes and suffered from cognitive problems, but retained an amazingly accurate memory of her earlier days, according to her son, Fred Block.
Ms. Gollay, who wrote under the name Jean Libman Block, lived in Springs for more than 30 years. Ben Gollay, a Manhattan lawyer who had been coming here since the 1930s and helped many Springs artists, baymen, and community groups with their legal affairs, introduced her to the area. They were married in 1966 and bought a house on Louse Point Road in the ’70s, where they spent weekends and summers. They later donated about nine acres to the Nature Conservancy’s Accabonac Harbor Preserve. Mr. Gollay was a patron of the arts, and after he died in 1983, his widow donated their collection to the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts.
She was born Jean Libman in New York City on Dec. 7, 1917, to Rose Strauss and Charles Libman. Her father had a modest income as an insurance salesman but was often forced to rely on relatives, and the family struggled through the Depression. Her son wrote that she never forgot those early years; she always saved her teabags for reuse and frequented thrift shops. She learned from her mother at an early age how to sew, and made many of her own clothes, but was also lucky to have a rich aunt who gave her not only fashionable dresses but advice on how and where to wear them.
Ms. Gollay attended public schools in the city and Hunter College, until her junior year, when she transferred to Barnard. She majored in French, and went to France to work in 1938, returning home reluctantly the year after when her anxious mother repeatedly cabled that war was on the horizon.
She took up a career as a publicist for early radio, then branched out into freelance writing and went on to publish many articles. One forward-looking piece, titled “I Refuse to Chauffeur My Children,” featured a photo of her daughter, Elizabeth, getting on a bicycle to go to school.
She also addressed such diverse subjects as violence in prisons, the origins of baby food, and attitudes toward sexual behavior.
In 1940 she married Frederick H. Block, who was then in the Army. The marriage ended in 1964.
The family moved from New York City to Rye, N.Y., where Ms. Gollay continued to write. She became known for interviewing first ladies, among them Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, and Nancy Reagan. Her son said she was very proud of her articles on health topics, some of which led to books. One article, about a young woman with terrible facial abnormalities, led to the establishment of the Debbie Fox Foundation, which has helped many others with similar disfigurements.
When her daughter was old enough to prepare dinner, Ms. Gollay joined the communications staff at Revlon. “She was one of the very rare mothers in the suburbs who had a career,” Mr. Block recalled. “It was cool to have a mother that was different.”
In 1978, Ms. Gollay became the articles editor of Good Housekeeping, a job she managed part time until 1982. She continued to write on a freelance basis while lecturing on writing, teaching it at New York University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and writing both novels and nonfiction. She was the first woman president of the Society of Magazine Writers, now the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, and into the early 2000s, Ms. Gollay contributed “Guestwords” columns to The Star.
After her husband died she sold the Louse Point house, but kept a smaller house on the property and renovated it with the late architect Edgar Tafel, who had become her partner of nearly 20 years. She sold it in 2002 and moved to Aston Gardens in Venice, Fla., where, said her son, she made many friends. She spent part of the summer in East Hampton in 2005 with a friend, and visited one last time in 2010, he said.
In addition to her son, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., and her daughter, Elizabeth Block of London, she is survived by a stepdaughter, Elinor Gollay of Portland, Ore., and two grandchildren.
Ms. Gollay was buried in Green River Cemetery in Springs next to her husband, near many of the artists they knew. A memorial service will be held on Feb. 14, 2016, in Sarasota, Fla.