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Ellen Potash Arrick
Ellen Potash Arrick of Hastings-on-Hudson and Pine Hill, NY died peacefully on June 8, 2005 at the age of 50 of complications of breast cancer. Ellie was born on July 16, 1954 in Northampton, Massachusetts to Robert and Jeanne Potash and grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts with her parents and her sister Janet. Eighteen months of her girlhood were spent in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where her father researched that country's history. Back home in Amherst, she went to the local schools, participated in the 4H club, made art projects, read avidly and made lifelong friendships. In 1976, she graduated from Brown University where she developed an interdisciplinary program in Renaissance Studies, combining her interests in history, art and languages. She spent the next year in Florence, Italy. These experiences informed her cosmopolitan outlook, and deepened her life-long appreciation of cultural and natural beauty. Moving to New York City, Ellie cultivated her analytical skills at Columbia University. There she earned an MBA, specializing in not-for-profit organizations, and met her future husband, Martin Arrick, whom she married in Amherst on April 1, 1984. After working briefly at Chemical Bank, Ellie became a program investment officer for the Ford Foundation in the 1980s, evaluating investments in enterprises that advanced social purposes. She went on to be a consultant to a number of foundations and funder collaboratives in the New York area. A wonderful writer, she made complicated matters clear, and she had a special knack for interviewing people to help them explain what they did. Most recently, Ellie was a writer and managing editor for GrantCraft, a project of the Ford Foundation. There she created several publications that are used by people in philanthropy worldwide. Ellie and Martin established a second home in Pine Hill NY in 1986. A particular source of pleasure there was her garden, which was unravaged by deer. Ellie and Martin moved to Hastings-on-Hudson in 1992 where they nurtured and cherished their three children. Here too Ellie worked to build support and community for them. As she said to her eldest son, "your relatives, our friends in Hastings and from out of town, all these people who cherish you -- this is your treasure, more valuable that anything else you could find." Ellie was a devoted mother who often could be found engrossed in activities with her sons. She admired their work, interests and qualities, sometimes telling them directly, and sometimes telling others. In both her professional and private life, Ellie strove consciously to do good in the world and to recognize and strengthen that impulse in others. She delighted in finding other people's skills, and made inspired connections among them. She formed bonds, and grew them into relationships and communities, which she made more capable with her insight, energy, and generosity of spirit. Her own grace kept her modest and down to earth, with a ready wit and a gently wry sense of humor. After disclosing her initial cancer diagnosis in 1999, Ellie commented, "I never realized how many friends I had until I got sick." When her cancer metastasized and worsened, she described her relationship with the disease not as a battle, but as a journey. She embarked on living with cancer as a chronic disease, doing her best to respond with grace, good humor and resilience. She will be greatly missed. Ellie is survived by her husband, Martin Arrick; her children Daniel, 14, Graham, 12, and Alexander, 9; her parents, her sister Janet Potash, mother-in-law, Barbara Arrick, and their cat, Jasmine. A funeral service will be held at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday June 9 at Temple Beth Shalom, 740 North Broadway, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, 914-478-3833, www.tbshastings.org. A brief graveside service will follow at Mount Hope Cemetery, Saw Mill River Road and Jackson Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson, 914-478-1855, www.MountHopeCemetery.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Ellie's name to The Bereavement Center of Westchester, 69 Main Street, Tuckahoe, NY 10707. 914-961-2818 ext 317 for details. www.treehouse-bcw.org. Visitation at the family's home, 23 Oakdale Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson, through Sunday June 12.July 16, 1954 - June 8, 200507/16/195406/08/2005
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Ellen Potash Arrick
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