Chloe Zerwick

February 13, 1923 - June 13, 2018

Chloe Zerwick, an artist and writer, died in her home on Wednesday morning, June 13. She was 95 years old, born on February 13, 1923 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chloe was the author of The Cassiopeia Affair (1968) and The Short History of Glass (1980) and continued with her creative work during her retirement in Hudson, NY. Last year, she exhibited artwork in a retrospective solo show entitled “Inside the Box” at the Hudson Opera House. She also wrote columns on ageing with grace for Imby.com. Chloe grew up traveling the United States as her father opened new movie theaters throughout the Great Depression. She attended the University of Chicago, matriculating at just 16 years old. She studied English literature, and befriended a number of leading literary and scientific minds and future activists in the nuclear disarmament movement. Shortly after graduating, she married her college sweetheart and had her first child, Jay Fox. She lived in New York City, working in public relations and electoral politics, for nearly 50 years, save for a yearlong hiatus in Rome, Italy. In New York, she met the love of her life, M.B. Zerwick, who she married in 1959. Their daughter, Phoebe, was born the following year. Chloe exhibited at several galleries, including the Cordy Gallery, Vorpal Gallery and Tiffany & Co. in New York, Freeman Gallery in Stonington, CT and Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson. Her tower assemblages were called by The New Yorker magazine, “amusing and sobering commentaries on how we live and what we live for.” She retired from Steuben Glass, where she was the director of public relations, in 1989. Her career as a writer began in the 1950s, and included work with Common Cause, a magazine published by the University of Chicago Press, the writers bureaus for Adlai E. Stevenson’s 1956 presidential campaign, and later President John F. Kennedy’s 1960 run. She was a consulting writer for the Institute for World Order, a peace organization, and the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Chloe is survived by her daughter, Phoebe Zerwick, son-in-law, Mark LaBrecque, daughter-in-law, Virginia Glessner, and grandchildren Kirwan Fox, Corinne White, Henry White and Jackson LaBrecque, and numerous cherished friends and caregivers. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hudson Opera House, Time & Space Limited (TSL) and the Columbia-Greene Hospital Foundation.