Deborah Balak

Balak - Deborah Lynn Anderson was born Friday June 16, 1967, in Syosset, NY to Carlton Edwin and Diane Louis (Sullivan) Anderson and died Saturday May 11, 2024, in Ardmore, OK at the age of 56. Deborah grew up in Cold Spring Harbor, NY and graduated from Cold Spring Harbor High School with the Class of 1985. After graduating high school, she attended college at the University of North Carolina and Johnson and Wales College of Arts & Sciences and graduated with a Culinary Degree. She was a talented and passionate Chef. Deborah lived in Fernandina Beach, FL, for 20 years and had a stunning career as a chef on Amelia Island at both The Ritz Carlton and The Inn at the Plantation. She was also the chef that catered the wedding of John Kennedy Jr. and Caroline

Basset in Jekyll Island, GA. Deborah was predeceased by her brother, James Anderson; father, Carlton Anderson Sr.; maternal grandparents Frank and Lila Sullivan. She is survived by her son, Matthew James "MJ" Balak; mother, Diane Anderson Barry and her husband Daniel of Huntington

Bay, NY; sister, Diana

Anderson Yeisley and her husband Jonathan of Simsbury, CT; brother, Carlton Anderson of Greenwich, CT; sister-in-law, Carolyn Anderson of New York, NY; nephews and nieces,

James and Charlotte Anderson,

Carter and Sarah Yeisley,

Tyler and Elizabeth Anderson; aunt, Donna Folkerts and her

husband Bill; and cousins, Billy,

Michelle and Andrea; and their families. Please consider donating to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's pancreatic cancer research center in Deborah's memory. Give at https://give.cshl.edu/ or call 516-867-8471.