JEANNETTE FLAMM BROCKMAN

Jeannette Flamm Brockman, a celebrated photographer and former assistant dean at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts, died on December 21, 2024, at her home in Haverford, PA. She was 87. Yesterday was her yahrzeit. Jeannette grew up in Brooklyn and graduated in 1958 from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied with Joseph Campbell and Maurice Friedman. After a fellowship at Harvard University, she completed her master's degree in Middle Eastern history at U.C. Berkeley in 1961. Jeannette met her late husband, Robert, in 1957 while studying field archaeology at the University of New Mexico. She served on the faculty and staff at Penn for 25 years. After her time as registrar for the Penn Museum, she became chief development officer for the Graduate School of Fine Arts, director of development for Penn Libraries, and assistant dean for external affairs at the Graduate School of Fine Arts overseeing fundraising, alumni affairs, and public relations. She raised over $30 million for the university, spearheading the renovation campaign for the Furness Building (Fisher Fine Arts Library), a National Historic Landmark, and the Eugene Ormandy Music and Media Center. She went on to teach photography for the Graduate School of Education's Say Yes to Education program for underserved schoolchildren. Jeannette embraced a second career as a professional photographer. This dovetailed with her longstanding work for HIAS Pennsylvania as a member of the board for over 15 years. She photographed refugees from the former Soviet Union and many other countries, documenting their journeys into a new life in the U.S. Her passion for photographing landscapes, portraits, and public events inspired the publication of "Prayers at the Gate" in the wake of 9/11. Her book, published in 2014, is a photographic meditation on the spontaneous memorials and offerings assembled to commemorate 9/11 at Ground Zero in New York City, at El Santuario de Chimayo, N.M., and in Shanksville, PA. Her exhibition of these photos was profiled by The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2005. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York, the Palace of the Governors Photo Archive at the New Mexico History Museum and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, and the Haverford College Archives. They have also been featured in group and solo exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the University of Pennsylvania Galleries, Sarah Lawrence College, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Her other books include "Along the Trail" and "Windows." In "Along the Trail," a collection of photographs from some of her favorite hikes throughout the U.S., she used her beachcomber's eye to find human and animal forms in forests. And in "Windows," she turned her lens on her home, as well as on commercial and residential sites in New York City, New Mexico, Maine, and Israel to frame walls, abandoned objects, window displays, and reflections. A devoted horticulturalist, she designed her own garden and cultivated it for over 50 years. She supported arboretums in Pennsylvania and Maine and donated art to museums including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the New York Historical. She is survived by her two sons, Joshua and George, and by two grandchildren, Felix and Celia. Her brother, Dudley, died earlier. A funeral service was held on December 24, at Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El in Wynnewood, PA. The Inquirer published her obituary. To celebrate her life and to leave condolences, visit legacy.com. Memorial contributions may be made to HIAS Pennsylvania, (215)832-0900. For information on a forthcoming celebration of Jeannette's life that will take place in early 2026, please email us.