Gloria Stroock Stern

July 10, 1924 - May 5, 2024 Gloria Stroock Stern passed away on May 5th, 2024, just 8 ½ weeks shy of her 100th birthday. By all accounts, Gloria's life was Glorious! Born in NYC into a theatrical family, she continued that tradition well into her 90's. Her father, James Stroock owned Brooks Costumes, and her mother, Bianca was a designer of modern clothes for the stage which meant Gloria and her younger sister Gerry (whom she referred to as "the present her parents gave to her") attended all the openings of Broadway shows, the Ziegfeld Follies, and the circus. Her summers at Camp Fernwood in Maine in her early teens were a highlight in her life. If ever someone loved summer camp, it was Gloria! While there, she wrote a song that campers still sing today, some 80 years later. By the time she was in her early twenties, and now an actress, she had performed on Broadway, in regional theater, and on television, had modeled for LOOK and LIFE magazine, and sat for two large scale portraits painted by the renowned artist, Eugene Speicher.

Gloria married television comedy writer, Leonard Stern (The Honeymooners, The Phil Silvers Show, The Steve Allen show, Get Smart) had two children, Michael and Kate, and moved to LA for Leonard's career where she, a New Yorker through and through, felt like a fish out of water. She took up sculpting, creating a large body of work and had a solo exhibition of her work at 95! She also returned to acting in television and film and became a member of Theater 40 in Beverly Hills performing in plays for over 35 years. And because her talents knew no bounds, she began writing at age 90, published her memoir "Cast of Characters" at 93, and performed stories from her life in one woman shows.

An elegant, gracious, and radiant woman, Gloria disliked freeways and bad grammar, never met a bar of dark chocolate she didn't love and had an uncanny memory for song lyrics. When asked in her mid 90's to what she owed her longevity she said, "I wake up every day singing and go to bed the same way and that puts me in a good mood for the day and gives me pleasant dreams at night."

Gloria is survived by her children, Michael and Kate Stern, her daughter-in-law, Laura Stern, her grandchildren, Ryan and (Leslie) Stern, Dylan and (Mindy) Stern, and her great-grandchildren, Gabriella, Jackson, Grayson, Noir and Jackson (JJ). She was preceded in death by her husband, Leonard Stern, her parents, Jimmie and Bianca Stroock and her sister, Geraldine Brooks.