ELDA CUSICK

CUSICK--Edla.

70, died January 25th at her home in Manhattan, of cancer. She was married to Douglas Clifford and had two children, Kate Clifford and Michael Clifford, both of Brooklyn. She is also survived by a brother, Michael Cusick, and by a large extended family. A fifth generation Manhattanite, she was an artist, art teacher and playwright. Her paintings were shown at galleries in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut; her play "Austin" was produced off-Broadway last year. She was a member of the Playwrights/Directors Unit at the Actors Studio, where her plays "Midnight Lunch" and "Put Down" received readings. She taught art classes at Hartley House and Temple Emanu-el in Manhattan, and at the Art Center of Northern New Jersey in New Milford, NJ. She studied art at the National Academy and the Art Students League, where she was a lifetime member. Her biggest painting was a mural of stylized arches against a blue sky, which covered the side of a convent at 10th Avenue and 44th Street, next door to her house. Edla, known as "Missy," was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College. She worked in the 1970s as an administrative aide to two New York Senators, Jacob Javitz and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In the 1980s she worked for the New York Times as editor of its in-house newsletter "Times Talk," and in the 1990s for Time Magazine as deputy editor of its international editions. Missy made her 44th Street painting studio a gathering place for family, neighborhood artists, students and her many friends. She was devoted to and proud of New York City and her Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. Funeral services are private. A memorial will be held in her neighborhood at a later date. Missy Cusick supported many progressive causes, including the campaign against government policies of mass incarceration. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to The Innocence Project, 40 Water Street, New York, NY, 10013.