MARLENE MEYERSON

1940 - 2017

MEYERSON--Marlene

Nathan. November 25, 1940 - January 28, 2017. New York City. After a sixteen-month battle with ovarian cancer, Marlene Nathan Meyerson died peacefully early Saturday morning, January 28, 2017, at the home of her daughter, Marti Meyerson. Service: Following a private family service in Fort Worth, she will be laid to rest next to her son, David, in the Beth-El Section of Greenwood Memorial Park. Marlene was born in Galveston, Texas, on November 25, 1940, the daughter of Tilley Haar and David Henry Nathan. She graduated from Ball High School in 1958, where she was a cheerleader. After high school, she attended The University of Texas at Austin, where she was a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority. While at "The University," she met her husband-to-be, Morton H. Meyerson, a fellow student, in 1959. She left school in 1960 to work on the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, then she moved to San Francisco to work in the fashion industry at I Magnin. Following her return to Texas in early 1964, she worked in the Austin and Galveston offices of Texas Senator Babe Schwartz. On April 26, 1964, Marlene and Morton were married and set off on their life adventure. Morton was a data processing engineer at Bell Helicopter and Marlene was executive assistant to the director of the Fort Worth Art Center. Their first child, David, was born in September 1967, and he was followed by their daughter, Marti, in October 1969. David died on October 17, 1998. During her early married years, Marlene's life revolved around her family. Later, when her children were in school, Marlene launched a highly successful career in real estate in Dallas. During those years, she was also a leader in Dallas civic and cultural affairs, including the Junior League, which she had joined while still in Galveston, and many other charitable organizations. She was a Life Member of the National Council of Jewish Women. Among her many accomplishments, in 1997 she was recognized at the Seventh Annual World AIDS Day Luncheon held in the United Nations Building in New York, and she received the Award of Distinction for Leadership in Philanthropy. The award celebrated her leadership of the fundraising efforts of AMFAR Dallas (American Foundation for Aids Research), for which she raised nearly $2 million. Earlier, in 1994, she had brought Paul Simon to Dallas for a sold-out concert at the Meyerson Symphony Center, and in the same year she brought Elizabeth Taylor as part of those AMFAR events. In her later years, Marlene split her time between Manhattan and Santa Fe. Manhattan allowed Marlene to explore her interest in art and culture but even more importantly brought her close to her daughter, son-in-law Jamie Hooper, and her beloved grandchildren, Hannah, David, and Sandy. Santa Fe was Marlene's place of peace, where she would swim laps on a daily basis and trained for a triathlon, for which, at the age of 75, she won first prize in her age group. Throughout her life she was an active participant in the arts, serving at the time of her death as the Chairman of the Board of SITE Santa Fe; as a member of and former chairman of the advisory council of the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin; as Founder of the Alfred Stieglitz Society, a Curatorial Friends Group supporting the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; as a member of the Visiting Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; as a member of the Collection Committee of the Cooper Hewitt Museum; as a member of the Video & Film Committee of the Whitney; as a member of the Contemporary Arts Council of the Museum of Modern Art; and as a member of the Santa Fe Chili and Marching Society. Survivors: In addition to Marti Meyerson, Jamie Hooper and her grandchildren, Marlene is survived by her husband, Morton H. Meyerson; her sister, Carolyn Nathan; her brother, Neil Nathan, and her cousin and lifelong friend, Marvin Nathan. Memorials: In 2017, some 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and approximately 14,000 will die from it. Early detection screening methods don't exist and by the time ovarian cancer is diagnosed it often has spread to the point that treatment is ineffective. Ovarian cancer is deemed an orphan disease and consequently receives minimal national research funding. For those who wish to honor Marlene's memory, the family requests that donations be made to The David Nathan Meyerson Foundation these, tax deductible, donations will be collected and forwarded to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for ovarian cancer research. Robertson Mueller Harper Funerals, Fort Worth, TX.