Michele Martin

July 14, 1958 - July 16, 2022 Michele Martin, L.A. native, artist, and librarian at the Greenwich Library in Connecticut, died of cancer at her home in Cos Cob, CT.
Michele grew up in Silver Lake, the youngest of Sally and Charles Martin's four children. She attended Immaculate Heart High School and earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Before moving to Connecticut in 1991, she worked as a fine artist and mother to her two daughters in New York City. For the past ten years she made Cos Cob her home.
The regulars at the library knew Michele's infectious (and loud) laughter and valued her kindness. She worked at the library for 22 years, in the process earning a Master's in Library Science from the Pratt Institute in New York. For the last five years, she was the Peterson Business Librarian, organizing lectures, creating programs for jobseekers, investors, and writers, and working with MOMA and the Greenwich Astronomical Society to design art- and science-related programming. Her never-ending curiosity and fascination with humanity fostered her successful midlife career.
Most of all, Michele enjoyed being with her daughters and their young families. She often visited her two grandsons, Jasper and Otto, in Berlin, Germany, and studied German in between visits. She also recently welcomed her first granddaughter, Sunny, and loved visiting her at the beach in Rockaway.
Michele was an accomplished artist whose breadth of work flowed seamlessly over the years from drawing to painting, collage work to silk-screening to, most recently, Navajo weaving. She was an artistic pioneer in many ways, including recognizing the art scene in Marfa, TX, where she bought a house in the '90s, and through the Stamford Loft Artists Assoc., where she held studio space. Her exuberant enthusiasm for art, music, design, books, playing tennis, and, most of all, her family and friends will leave a lasting impact.
Michele leaves behind her beloved daughters, Katherine Kordaris (Robert Carnevale) and Eloise Kordaris (Mischa Bitten); grandchildren Jasper George Bitten, Otto Michele Bitten, and Sunny Martin Carnevale; ex-husband and dear friend George Kordaris; sisters Laura (Paul) Ricks and Stephanie Helper; brother Greg (Cathy) Martin; and four nieces, three nephews, and one grandnephew. Her constant companion for the last 12 years, her cat Persephone, is also carrying on her memory.
Michele's final days were spent exactly as she wished: at home, with grace and acceptance, surrounded by her many loved ones-especially her daughters, grandchildren, and cat.
A funeral was held on July 22, with an L.A. memorial in the fall. In her memory, please consider donating to Connecticut Food Share.