L E G A C I E S

Jane Elizabeth Preston, 76, of Sarasota, FL and the North Fork of Long Island, died November 15th, 2005 after a long and valiant fight against cancer.

Ms. Preston was the daughter of Margaret (Walker) and Harry Preston, and grew up in Fairlawn, NJ. She was an artist, an avid sailor, and a lifelong lover of books and animals. She studied art under the Abstract Expressionist Hans Hoffman at his New York studio and later at the University of California Berkeley. She spent five years studying painting in France. She worked for many years as an art director at Macmillan Publishing in New York City, and continued her painting and book design from her studios in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn and in Jamesport.

In the 1980’s she became active in local real estate and also rehabilitated several Brooklyn and North Fork houses, doing much of the work herself. She was an enthusiastic sailor, sometimes delivering boats between Newport, RI and Florida, and earned a “sixpack” Coast Guard license that certified her to carry up to six paying passengers. In leisure times, she sailed her blue Bristol on Peconic Bay.

She is mourned by her longtime companion Virginia Olga Lee; by her large family, including her sisters-in-law Ruth Preston and Wilhelmina (Billie) Preston and her nieces and nephews; and by her many friends. Cremation was private. Interment will be at Orient Central Cemetery at a later date. Memorial donations may be made to TideWell Hospice, 5955 Rand Boulevard,Sarasota, FL 34238 (attention: donations) or to North Fork Women for Women Fund, P.O. Box 804, Greenport, NY 11944-0804.

As per the NY Times, December 18, 2005