MIRA VAN DOREN

VAN DOREN--Mira. Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren, 96, died peacefully on October 13, 2025. Her life was filled with an ebullient and affectionate spirit that touched many. Born in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), she arrived in New York City in 1939 with her parents David, a noted physician, and Lydia, an accomplished painter, and where she lived for much of her life. She was married for 63 years to John Van Doren, an editor and professor, son of the Pulitzer Prize poet Mark Van Doren, and they raised their sons Adam (an artist and teacher at Yale) and Daniel (a property manager) in Cambridge, MA and Evanston, IL. Mira was a highly accomplished artist and filmmaker. Her interest in art began with painting, later exhibiting her oil still lifes and landscapes in galleries in New York and Chicago. At 19 she began an enameling business with two friends from the High School of Music and Art, Barbara Kinigstein and Jane Padwee, first creating jewelry and tabletops (some for the SS United States Cruise liner) and later designing hundreds of porcelain enamel mural elevator doors and cabs for major buildings across the country. Her work was admired by notable architects such as Walter Gropius and Gordon Bunshaft. After college, she was awarded fellowships to the Art Students League and Cranbook Academy of Art. For many years she lived on West 57th Street in an apartment which was once the office of Woody Allen. In 2007, she produced The World Was Ours, a PBS documentary on the vibrant cultural history of the Jews of Vilna, which received wide critical acclaim and resulted in her receiving a prestigious award from the YIVO Institute. She enjoyed life and was a confidante to many who sought her wisdom, inspiration and advice, and her home was always filled with warmth and delicious food. Many of her relatives lived around the world, some of whom were particularly colorful, such as her uncle Huseyn Suhrawardy, the former prime minister of Pakistan, who married her aunt Vera, an actress with the Moscow Art Theater. Few things rattled her, and she remained calm under pressure. She had an abiding sense of purpose and a strong will that gave her the strength to live as long as she did. In addition to her sons, she is survived by her daughters-in-law, Charlotte and Susan, and her grandchildren Abbott, Henry, Benjamin and Ross (Amelia). A funeral will be held on October 16 at 11:30am, at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street, New York, NY. Donations may be made to the YIVO Institute and the Art Students League of New York.