Ann Meeropol, 75, of Cold Spring, and formerly a longtime resident of western Massachusetts, died May 9, 2019, after a six-year battle with cancer.
She was born March 2, 1944, in New York City, the daughter of Dr. Vincent and Vera (McClinchy) Karusaitis.
From 1972 to 1984, Ann worked for the Springfield school district, and from 1986 to 2003 for the Longmeadow school district, both in Massachusetts. At Longmeadow, she taught in the pupil services department of Williams Middle School and was later chair of the special education program at the high school. Earlier in her career, she taught English as a Second Language and worked with disabled students.
Ann earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from Queens College of the City University of New York, a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1986, and a doctorate in the history of higher education in 1992, also from UMass. For years she was a member of the Amherst Creative Biography group and in 2014 wrote A Male President for Mount Holyoke College, The Failed Fight to Maintain Female Leadership, 1934-1937.
In 1965 she married Michael Meeropol, who survives her. In 2009 the couple began living part-time in Cold Spring, and they moved to the village full-time in 2014.
Ann (or Annie to her husband and friends) acquired a love of music from her mother and for more than 15 years sang in the Hampshire Choral Society. She also loved the ocean and her time spent with family and friends in her home in Truro on Cape Cod. She was passionate about theater, film, music and art and deeply involved in politics. Later in life she explored watercolor painting.
Besides her husband of 54 years, Ann is survived by her children, Ivy Meeropol (Thomas Ambrose) of Cold Spring and Gregory Meeropol of Washington, D.C., and her grandchildren: Julian Ambrose and Dylan Ambrose. She also is survived by a sister, Kathryn Basham of Northampton, Massachusetts.
Calling hours will be held Monday, May 13, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Clinton Funeral Home, 21 Parrott St., in Cold Spring. A funeral service will be held on Tuesday, May 14, at noon at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 1 Chestnut St., in Cold Spring, with interment to follow at Cold Spring Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Lewin Fund to Fight Women’s Cancers (thelewinfund.org) or the Haldane Arts Alliance (haldanearts.org).
