ACCORD NY– Barbara A. Gordon, 80, passed away at MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie on July 25, 2024.

Born on June 2, 1944 in New York City, she was the daughter of the late David and Susan (Malev) Gordon. Barbara was a gifted artist whose work has been widely exhibited in the US and abroad. She received numerous fellowships and awards including the Provincetown Workshop Scholarship and the Geraldine R. Dodge fellowship for the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She was a Tiffany Foundation Nominee and her work is included in the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Archives and Collection in the Library of Congress.

Barbara is also an award-winning filmmaker. Her documentary work has been broadcast on CBS, NBC, ABC and PBS. Her film about world hunger, “Edge of Survival”, received the first World Hunger Media Award at the United Nations and is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. She shot and produced two PBS documentaries about Mother Teresa: “Mother Teresa: Love As I Have Loved You” and “Mother Teresa of Calcutta”. She was only the second person Mother Teresa allowed to film her. Her film about the artist Gillian Jagger, “Casting Faith”, which she made with her husband, Richard Schlesinger, was one of only eleven films, including work by Alain Resnais, Andy Warhol, and Sidney Lumet, that the curator of the Copenhagen International Film Festival felt has the power to disrupt lives in a positive way.

Barbara is survived by her loving husband of 37 years, Richard A. Schlesinger; her sister, Joyce Silberberg and her husband Mark; her nephew David and her niece Jennifer Earle; her aunt, Phyllis Lerner and her cousins, Arnold Goran and his wife Mariel and Sheldon Malev and his wife Arlene.

Barbara and Richard actually met in kindergarten. Years later Barbara recognized Richard as he was leaving a party, and they were together for 39 years. They enjoyed taking daily walks along the Rail Trail with their dogs, the last of whom, Jimmy, survives her.

A Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of the McHoul Funeral Home, Inc. Please visit Barbara’s Book of Memories at www.mchoulfuneralhome.com.