ETHELYN CHASE

CHASE--Ethelyn Atha. Lyn Chase, former President of the Academy of American Poets and founder of the American Poets' Corner at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, died at home in New York City on September 3, 2023, aged 99 years. Active in the world of literature and the arts, she had served on the board of the New York Society Library, the American Composers Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera, and the New York Botanical Garden. In 1996 she received an Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was also a Governor of the Colony Club, the Cosmopolitan Club, and the Maidstone Club, and president of the Junior League of New York City. Mrs. Chase devoted more than a quarter of a century to the field of social welfare, serving on the Citizens Advisory Board to the Department of Social Services under three mayors and on the boards of the Community Service Society, the Community Council of Greater New York, the Foundation for Child Development, and the New York YWCA. A 1944 graduate of Smith College, Mrs. Chase was predeceased by her husband, the editor and writer Edward T. (Ned) Chase. Beloved mother of Daphne Chase Rowe of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and Cynthia Chase of Ithaca, New York, she is also survived by her nephew Mark Merriman (Brigid) and four grandchildren: Natalie Smith, Chase Davidson Smith, Lucy Rowe, and William Culler-Chase. A Celebration of her Life will be held at a later date.