Leslie Elen

The world is different now. On March 12, 2026, Leslie Elen, age 80, transitioned peacefully from this life surrounded by the love and gratitude of friends and family fortunate to have enjoyed her generosity and grit.

Born on February 19, 1946, in New York, to Armand and June Nazzaro, Leslie eventually found her way to Hollywood. The talent she brought was not for show business; it was for business, and ensuring it got done. Leslie effortlessly ensured the executives and social clubs lucky enough to employ her got to where they needed to go, handled what had to be done, and that they knew it was because of her.

A master planner and organizer, she was a consummate professional who lacked a filter. Her wit and quips are legendary and too inappropriate for print - a fact she surely takes pride in.

She was a particular woman: Coca-Cola should be in a glass bottle; gas tanks filled to a round dollar amount; the spice cabinet alphabetized; dinner plates warmed in the oven before serving; her disdain for air conditioning and heat - and the resulting bills - but her insistence on paying for a vanity license plate that proudly displayed her Italian heritage at the expense of her other genetic makeup. There is a proper way to load a dishwasher and stock shelves, and it is her way.

Leslie married and divorced twice. First to George DiCenzo and then to Robert (Bob) Elen. She and Bob welcomed a daughter together, Caitlin, and Leslie loved Bob’s children from his first marriage, Cami and Jason, as her own. As a testament to her character and those she kept in her life, Leslie remained on good terms with both men and their subsequent spouses. Bob’s spice cabinet is alphabetized.

There is nowhere she went where she did not make a lasting connection. She routinely and unquestionably opened her home to those who needed a place to live - whether they had two legs or four - and a special dose of her one of a kind tough love. Her thick skin sheltered a bursting heart she could never tame from showering countless people with love and kindness and, of course, her sharp humor. She would give you the shirt off her back then tell you that you were wearing it wrong. To make her proud was as much an honor as eating one of her delicious home cooked meals or attending her famous Christmas party.

Leslie is lovingly remembered and survived by her daughter Caitlin, son-in-law John, two granddaughters, step-children Cami and Jason, brother Steward, and leaves too many of her given and chosen family behind.

It mattered to her how it ended. And because of her friends and family it ended on her terms: in the comfort of her home, embraced by the love and warmth of so many people whose lives she touched, as if there was ever another way.