JOSEPHINE ROBERTSON

ROBERTSON--Josephine (Josie) Tucker, died at her home in New York City on June 8 after a long struggle with breast cancer. The daughter of Robert and Josephine (Pimmie) Spencer Tucker, she was born May 16, 1943, in San Antonio, and graduated from Saint Mary's Hall there in 1961. She later attended Briarcliff College and graduated from the University of Texas in 1965. Before her marriage to Julian Robertson in 1972, Josie and her sister-in-law started and managed Tuckertown which designed and produced Christmas-tree ornaments which sold to leading department stores throughout the nation. Known always for her artistic talents and creativity, she collaborated with Julian to build two golf-course resorts in New Zealand. Hers was the eye behind the impeccable style of the two award-winning lodges they built near the golf courses. An avid golfer, she was the 2006 women's champion at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, NY. She was gifted with flowers, and loved using them while entertaining friends and family. Always gracious, lighthearted, and fun, she masked a formidable set of organizational skills which she put to work as a mother of three sons and as a volunteer in New York City. Her civic accomplishments were many. She joined the Women's Board of The Boys' Club of New York in 1978, served as its president, and in 2000 was elected to the combined board of trustees. In 2007, when she was the honoree at its annual spring dance, a group of friends raised money in her honor for the Boys' Club's Josie Robertson School of Music and Art. She also was on the Board of Overseers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center since 2004, a director of Classroom, Inc. from 1999 and a director of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation since 2002. In 1996, the Robertsons established the Robertson Foundation which supports education, medical research, spirituality, and environmental causes. In 1998, shortly after her breast-cancer surgery, Julian surprised Josie with a gift to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts that named the plaza there in her honor. She and Julian were leading supporters of the Central Park Conservancy, where she joined the board of the Women's Committee in 1997. In 1998 they funded the restoration of the 59th Street Pond and its surrounding landscape. She is survived by her loving family: her husband of 38 years; son Spencer, his wife, Sarah, and their children Hollis, Hart, and Wyndham of Brooklyn; son Julian H. III (Jay) of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand; and son Alexander Tucker of Manhattan. Also surviving are two sisters, Mary Cassell of Albuquerque and Julia Rasmussen of Houston, and two brothers, Robert Tucker of San Antonio and George Tucker of Midland. She will be missed by everyone fortunate enough to have known her. Funeral will be at 11am Friday, June 11 at St. Bartholomew's Church at 325 Park Avenue, New York. Visitation will be at 11:30-2 and 5-7pm on Thursday, June 10 at Frank Campbell Funeral Home, 1076 Madison Avenue, New York. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Boys Club of New York, 287 East 10th Street, NYC 1009; Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, Dept. of Development, 633 Third Avenue-28th Floor, NYC 10018; and PAVE Academy Charter School, 71 Sullivan Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231.