CAROLINE FIRESTONE

FIRESTONE--Caroline. Caroline Hudson Firestone of New York, died on March 10, 2026, just short of her 100th birthday. She was born on April 14, 1926, in Oklahoma City, OK, to Dorothy Hoffman Hudson and Hubert Hudson. Her father owned the Ada and Atoka Oklahoma Railroad, and her maternal grandfather, Major General Roy Hoffman, served as an aid to General John J. Pershing during the First World War. The family later resided in Brownsville, TX, and Williamstown, MA. She is predeceased by two brothers, Hubert R. Hudson and William H. Hudson. A graduate of Rosemary Hall School, she was first married to Edmund Calvert Lynch, Jr. whose father co-founded the investment firm Merrill Lynch. They had three children: Edmund III, Virginia, and Case. Their family life was centered in New York City and Locust Valley, NY. In 1987, Caroline married Ambassador Leonard Firestone. He was the love of her life. Together they lived in Pebble Beach, Palm Beach, Jackson Hole, and New York. He died in 1996. An engaging person with boundless energy, she developed a deep commitment to the women of Afghanistan. She authored three books on Afghan women and founded the New Hudson Foundation to support the people and institutions of Afghanistan. She also served as the first female board member of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. She was a board director of the National Peace Corps Association. And she worked tirelessly for many causes ranging from the spiritual, to politics, to local sports groups for children. Caroline was passionate about horticulture and a longtime member of the North Country Garden Club of Long Island. Throughout all of her commitments, Caroline was about doing the work first and foremost. She cooked meals at different camps. She phone-banked and canvassed for candidates whom she supported, and she visited Afghanistan eight times in a successful effort to help create a university that all women and men could attend. She is survived by her children, Virginia Lynch Dean (James) and Case Lynch (Gail Bloom); daughter-in-law Deborah, her grandchildren, Caroline, Andree (Nicholas Cottingham), Jimmy, Jessica (Dewey Mote), Cassie (Josh Mandell), Alexandra (Fred Bower), and Samantha; Crystal Lynch Ewoldt (Gregory), Edmund Calvert Lynch IV (Fallyn); and eight great-grand- children. She was predeceased by her son, Edmund C. Lynch III. Funeral Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. James Episcopal Church in New York City.