KAY CHERNUSH

Kay Heringman Chernush (Age 77) Passed away on February 15, 2022, in Washington DC from complications of a stroke. A multi-talented traveller, photographer, cancer survivor, feminist and outspoken champion of the enslaved and the exploited, Kay radiated warmth and an irrepressible joie de vivre. Kay was born in New Orleans, LA, grew up in Los Angeles, CA, and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1966. With a Fulbright Fellowship, she spent a year teaching English inside the double walls of the Women's College of Aligarh Muslim University. In 1968, Kay married Akosh Chernush and lived in Spain and in Paris where Kay worked at the New York Times bureau. They were later divorced. Back in the US, Kay became a photographer and, over the next 43 years, rose to become a top, free-lance commercial and fine arts photographer. Kay's artwork is included in permanent US governmental and private collections. Her hallmark was "to make visible the poetry and drama in the mundane and banal". Her photography career took her all over the world for major magazines, Fortune 500 corporations, as well as for the US government and non-profits. Whether atop a 230-foot construction crane over Chicago or in the belly of a truck carrying Mars bars to Iraq, Kay let nothing prevent her from producing work of the highest quality. Kay met her second husband, NIH molecular biologist Lee Rosner, in 1988, and they have been together ever since. For the past five years, Kay and Lee have enjoyed living at The Westchester Cooperative apartments in Washington, DC. Kay found relaxation in cooking gourmet meals for friends, in playing the flute and in Nature, especially in birdwatching. In 2011, after an assignment for the US State Department to document human trafficking, Kay founded and became President of ArtWorks for Freedom, a non-profit organization. Through her compassionate lens, she showed that all forms of art can be used to fight modern slavery. In January 2022, she was honored by being selected for the "70 Over 70 Award" granted by HelpAge USA, recognising that "she dedicated herself to building awareness about human trafficking and modern-day slavery using art exhibits, performances, and films." Kay also published two remarkable books, The Us and The They: Prejudice and Empathy in America's Smallest County, and the courageous Self Examination where she turned the camera on her own body after experiencing breast cancer. Kay will be missed by her husband, Lee Rosner, her sisters, Anne Pehrisch and Sue Heringman, her stepson, Ari Rosner-Salazar, her nephews David Pehrisch and Lain Heringman, and her grandchildren, great-nieces, great-nephews, sisters-in-law and her global family. There will be a private service for family, and a memorial service will be held in March. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to ArtWorks for Freedom, founded 10 years ago by Kay. https://artworksforfreedom.org