Sheilah Rechtschaffer

June 6, 1938 - March 13, 2021

Sheilah Rechtschaffer, Beloved wife, mother and grandmother, died in her home in Garrison, New York on March 13, 2021 at the age of 82. The cause of death was cancer. Sheilah was born in New York City and received her BS in education from Boston University and her BFA from SUNY Purchase. She had a long and distinguished career as an artist who exhibited her work in New York City and the metropolitan area. She taught fresco painting, color theory, and pastel at Parsons School of Design and at the New York Academy of Art. In 1992, she founded with Livia Monaco the Accademia Caertie, Inc. in Ceri, Italy where she served as President and instructor. Accademia Caerite, Inc. a not-for-profit workshop dedicated to continuing the traditional techniques of fresco painting and scagliola. In 1993, she co-curated a groundbreaking exhibit called Fresco: A Contemporary Perspective at Parsons School of Design and the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art. From 1999-2009, Sheilah and her husband, Dr. Bert Rechtschaffer, traveled to Brazil, St. Lucia and Vietnam to perform volunteer work in which she taught art classes to orphans and under-served children. Sheilah had a deep and abiding love for her family and lifelong appreciation for her many friends and always sought to lend a hand to anyone in need. She had an insatiable love of life, endless curiosity about all things and boundless generosity. She was an unparalleled force of energy. As a long-term social activist, she was active in the earliest days of the antiwar movement of the 60’s; the anti-nuclear movement of the 70’s and 80’s; and for various antiwar and environmental movements in the 2000's to the end of her life. She was a tireless fighter to make the world a better place for all. She leaves behind her loving and devoted husband of 58 years, Dr. Bertram Rechtschaffer and is survived by her children, Jonathan and Jessica Rechtschaffer, her daughter in law Debbie, and her granddaughter Zoe Rechtschaffer. Donations in her name can be made to: the Sugar Law Foundation in Detroit; Garrison Art Center; Coalition for the Institutionalized Aged and Disabled (CAID); and the National Jazz Foundation.