Marie Norkin Warach

Marie Norkin Warach, a former president of the Artists Alliance of East Hampton and a longtime resident of Springs, died in New York City on Nov. 18 at the age of 98.

Over the course of her long life, Mrs. Warach succeeded in a number of art-related careers. She was at various times a children’s-wear and knitwear designer, the author and illustrator of children’s books, a freelance photographer, a secretary at the Museum of Modern Art, and a licensed art therapist, all the while continuing to paint. Her work was exhibited both here and in the city, at Guild Hall, Ashawagh Hall, and the Nabi Gallery in Chelsea, among others.

With her first husband, the cartoonist and theatrical caricaturist Sam Norkin, she came to Springs in the mid-’50s. They rented a small house from Gerson and Judith Leiber on Old Stone Highway for a few years before building a house of their own on Shadow Lane in nearby Barnes Landing. They had been married for about 30 years when they divorced, in 1968.

Mrs. Warach was born on 113th Street in Harlem on Feb. 19, 1917, the daughter of Jacob and Diena Goldinger Sieff, and grew up in Queens. She was the valedictorian of her high school graduating class, but, said her daughter, Laura DeSena, her father advised her not to attend college, “for she would then be too smart to attract a husband.” Instead, she studied at the Art Students League and at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and married Mr. Norkin when she was about 20. Sometime in her 50s, she entered Hunter College, and graduated summa cum laude.

Her second husband, who survives, was Bernard Warach; they were married in the late ’70s and bought a house on Harrison Avenue, Springs, where they have spent six months a year ever since.

In addition to her daughter, who lives in Miami, Mrs. Warach leaves a son, Richard Norkin of San Francisco, and two grandchildren. Graveside services took place on Friday at Mount Ararat Cemetery in Lindenhurst.