Katherine Deutch Tatlock

Katherine Deutch Tatlock was born August 15th, 1938 in Chicago to Jewish Hungarian artists Helene and Stephen Deutch. "Kati" was the middle of three sisters and the first to be born in the US. The Deutch girls grew up visiting their parents' successful studio, inspiring a shared love of photography, art, and film.

Kat attended the University of Michigan and the Sorbonne, where she majored in French and Art History. A talented ballerina in her girlhood, she loved dance and continued to practice through college and beyond. After a brief stint as an actress, she worked as a photographer's assistant in Manhattan, where she met her husband, a lawyer named Christopher Tatlock. Together they had two daughters and lived in places as far and wide as Bogotá and Bermuda. After their separation in 1976, Kat moved with her children to Brookline and enrolled in Boston University, where she received an MS in Film. Her BU thesis was a poignant half-hour documentary about her photographer father, "Pista: The Many Faces of Stephen Deutch," which screened at the Chicago Historical Society, Coolidge Corner Movie Theatre and the American Film Festival in New York, among other venues.

Kat was a trailblazer in the Boston film business. She was the founding Vice President of Women in Film and Video New England and an early participant in the Sundance Film Lab. She created the first series of Martha Stewart cooking videos, worked on many independent films and wrote, directed and produced award-winning projects on a range of complex social issues. Her video "Jail Break," documented by photographer Robert Beauvais, followed four teenagers taking a life-changing tour of a local prison. Collaborating with writer Susan Shepherd, Kat directed the narrative audio series "11 Central Ave," which played on the public radio show Morning Edition. Other notable work includes the documentary "Outside In," which chronicled Dr. Kasia Clarke's inspiring battle with ovarian cancer.

Kat was a guest instructor at Boston University and Boston College, joining her friend and former BU classmate John Hoover to run filmmaking workshops. She also served as a mentor for the non-profit Women Thriving and was honored to be interviewed for their series "Courageous Women Leaders."

In 2022, Kat was featured in a New York Times piece about women who survived illegal abortions before Roe vs. Wade. She shared her story with journalist Ilana Panich-Linsman who photographed her in her lovely home - the third story of a brownstone on the border of Brookline and Boston, filled to the brim with art, books, precious tchotchkes and family photos. Over her decades there, Kat was a famously generous and lively host, known for her welcoming energy and spirited soundtracks. As a live-in grandparent throughout the 2000s, she was a strong presence in the Brookline Public School community (the second time around), happily attending parents' nights, musical performances, and soccer games. More recently, she became a beloved member of Brookline's Green Dog program.

Kat's number one love was her family. Her pride in her close-knit tribe was boundless and her enthusiasm legendary. She treasured summers at the Deutch family cottage on Lake Michigan, capturing sunsets, collecting fossils, and delighting in the antics of children. In addition to her daughters, Alison and Jessica Tatlock, Kat is survived by her sisters, Annick Smith and Carole Deutch, her son-in-law David Wiater (Alison), her grandchildren, Elias Sink, Serena Sink and Iris Wiater, her cousins, nieces and nephews and their children, her goddaughter Leila Sales, and a circle of devoted friends, all of whom she adored with unabashed gusto.

Kat experienced the world as an artist, always seeing the beauty, nuance, and dynamic layers of her universe and its inhabitants. An avid reader and consummate storyteller, she reveled in the contours of the human experience and the ordinary pleasures and pressures of everyday life. A tender and radiant soul who loved to laugh, she was irrepressibly optimistic and always sought out the light in others. After complications from a heart condition, she died peacefully at Brigham and Women's on December 26th, 2022 - in a final poetic flourish, forty-six years to the day after the father of her children.

A Celebration of Life will take place at the end of September. Donations can be made in Kat's name to The Brookline Teen Center or Planned Parenthood.