Suzanne Ellen Goell, Pianist and Publisher

Suzanne Ellen Goell, a pianist who had written art and music reviews for The West End Word, a community newspaper in St. Louis, eventually becoming its managing editor and publisher, died at home on Hand’s Creek Road in East Hampton on Sept. 12 of heart failure. She was 85 and had been ill for two and a half weeks.

Ms. Goell was a child prodigy whose parents took her out of school when she was 9 or 10 so she could concentrate on the piano. Growing up in Los Angeles, she performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic when she was 14 and later played for the Arthur Prince School of Dance there.

In 1959, Ms. Goell founded the New Music Circle in St. Louis, a group that performs mainly contemporary, avant-garde music. A decade later she was one of the founders of the New City School, for children from age 3 through sixth grade. Its mission was to promote joyful learning, confidence, commitment to diversity, and creative problem solving.

Born on Dec. 30, 1930, in Los Angeles, Ms. Goell was the only child of Paul Johnson and the former Ivy Kohlmeier, who adopted her as an infant. She moved to St. Louis after marrying Robert Steven Goell in 1957. The Goells built their East Hampton house in 1968, using it for summers and vacations. He died in 2008.

Her son Jeremy Goell said she was well educated and read voraciously although she had not had extensive formal schooling. She moved here full time in 1994 and became a volunteer in the Ladies Village Improvement Society’s Bargain Books shop. Nancy Goell of East Hampton said her sister-in-law was a perfectionist who played the piano only for the family after moving here.

In addition to her son Jeremy Goell, who lives in Brooklyn, two other sons, Geoffrey Goell of Brooklyn and Jonathan Goell of Oakland, Calif., survive. Two grandsons survive as well. A reception was held at her East Hampton house on Sept. 16.