CYNTHIA SILVERMAN

1990 - 2019

SILVERMAN--Cynthia. September 23, 1990 - December 14, 2019. Cynthia Leigh Silverman passed away unexpectedly on the 14th of December 2019 at the young age of 29. She was the only child of Catharine Crowell Regan and Kenneth Silverman of Key West, Florida and Amagansett, New York. She was a devoted New Yorker - born in New York University Hospital and she remained in the city for the duration of her short life. As a young child, Cynthia's exceptional intelligence was evident in the early days of her life. She needed to know about everything she could see. She attended the Dalton School and always said it was an important part of her intellectual life. Later in life, she graduated cum laude from Hunter College, the City University of New York. While at Hunter, she worked in the Center for Student Achievement successfully providing academic guidance to students in need of help. She became passionate about equal rights and justice and decided that the best way to be effective was to become a lawyer. Cynthia turned down the Carswell Merit Scholarship from Brooklyn College in order to study for a joint degree in Law and International affairs from the City University of New York. Aside from her academic pursuits, Cynthia had a beautiful voice and for many years she sang in the choir of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Manhattan. Most of her summers were spent at the beach in Amagansett and she also spent vacation time scuba diving with her friends in Bonaire. She was an avid skier, went annually, often with her mother, Kate. Cynthia's ancestry dates to 1637 when Yelverton Crowell settled in Charleston, Massachusetts. Cynthia also descended James P. Allaire (1785-1858) who founded the Allaire Iron Works, the first marine steam engine company in New York and the largest in the United States. After the death of James Fulton, owner of Fulton's Steamship works, Allaire became partners with Charles Stoudinger, Fulton's chief engineer. Together they built the engine for Fulton's first steamship design which became the first steam powered vessel to cross the Atlantic. Upon Allaire's retirement, the company was taken over by Cornelius Vanderbilt. In addition to her loving parents, Cynthia is survived by her two aunts, Dr. Janet Goodman and Anna Barfield of London and Key West, Florida, her stand-in grandparents Elizabeth and Richard Stone of New York City as well as many cousins and caring friends. A Memorial Service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to The Hunter College Foundation, 696 Park Avenue, Suite E1313, New York, NY 10065 or online at hunter.cuny.edu/give.