CLAIRE BROOK

BROOK--Claire, of New York City and Hillsdale, NY, former music editor at W.W. Norton Co., died on June 8, 2012 at the age of 87. She was born in New York City to immigrant parents Sonya and Frank Kessler, and distinguished herself early in the field of music as a pianist and composer. She attended the High School of Music and Art, graduated from Queens College and got a Masters degree in music from Columbia University, which she followed with a year of composition studies with the pre-eminent teacher Nadia Boulanger. She was married for 35 years to the love of her life, Barry S. Brook, head of the doctoral program in musicology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. They traveled the world together and always considered Paris their second home. After her retirement from W.W. Norton, she was Executive Editor at Pendragon Press, a musicological publisher she and her husband founded with her brother. She was an active member of the Century Club, as well as many other organizations. Her husband, Barry Brook, and her son, Jonathan Mann, predeceased her. She is survived by her daughter Lisa Mann, her brother Robert Kessler and his wife Janet Lincoln, her niece Amanda Udis-Kessler, step-son Randy Brook and step-daughter Brook Avidon, and her devoted grandchildren Mallery Avidon, Joshua Burke, Justin Mann, Zachary Burke, Sonya Burke, and Carey Mann, as well as her grand-daughters-in-law Emily Baum and McCann Lefevre. Her thorough enjoyment of life, and especially all things musical, will be missed by her family and her friends all over the world. A memorial service will be planned. Photo taken by Christian Steiner.