Jane Musante

1937 - 2024

Jane Sparkes Musante passed away peacefully on March 8, 2024 in her Kinderhook, N.Y. home.

Jane was born on October 29, 1937 in Charleston, West Virginia to Nancy Wren Sparkes, an actress and Edward Marcus Sparkes, an inventor and mechanical engineer.

Jane attended Oberlin College where she met her husband of over 50 years, Tony Musante, in a performance of L'Histoire du Soldat -- she as a dancer and choreographer, he as an actor. After graduating in 1959, Jane and Tony both moved to Manhattan and were married on June 2, 1962. Manhattan remained their prime residence for over five decades along with a home in Los Angeles and a retreat on Block Island.

Jane and Tony traveled the world and were inseparable in both work and life. Tony was well-known in film, TV and theater in the United States and abroad. Jane wrote scripts for their TV and films in the U.S. and in Italy. She was a freelance screenwriter, member of the Writers Guild American West, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and is listed as a notable screenwriter by Marquis Who's Who.

Jane is survived by five siblings -- Deborah Baxter, Beverley Tierney, Nancy Bagnal, Edward Sparkes III and Anne Lieberman, as well as nine nieces and nephews. Jane was preceded in death by her husband, Tony, who died in 2013.

Burial services were held at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 18, 2024 at the Island Cemetery next to Tony, reunited in love on their beloved Block Island.