Lillian Kornbluth

Lillian Kornbluth, 94, died peacefully in her sleep from pneumonia Sunday, January 25, 2015, in Santa Barbara, California with her family at her side. She was the youngest of four children born to Herman and Fannie Peck Hardis and is predeceased by her two brothers, Abraham and Leonard, and her sister, Ruth. A beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she lived an extraordinary life. She was born in the Bronx, New York, where she graduated from high school and then attended Hunter College. When she married the love of her life, Milton Kornbluth , in 1940, she moved to Paterson, New Jersey, where she lived for fifty-nine years. One of her great passions was singing in the Temple Emanuel choir with Milton. Her enthusiasm for art was boundless. Lillian had been a housewife with three teenagers when she started a fine art gallery in her home. A few years later, she moved the gallery to a storefront in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she exhibited such important contemporary artists as Pablo Picasso, Milton Avery, Will Barnet, Wolf Kahn, Louis Kosowick, Dale Chihuly, Paul Resika, and Richard Segalman. She had a gift for discovering young artists to whom she gave the opportunity to develop and show their work. Those who enjoyed her gallery openings remember them as special occasions often followed by dinners in the Kornbluth’s home, where relationships were formed that blossomed into lifelong friendships for artists and clients. In 1990, Lillian sold her gallery to her manager, Sally Walker, but stayed involved as a consultant to the gallery for the next nine years. Lillian moved with Milton to Marina Del Rey, California, in 1999. She was kind and generous to all who knew her. When her youngest son, Peter, was a teenager, the Kornbluth home was the social meeting place for Peter’s friends. A house key was always kept under the front entrance door mat, and it was not uncommon for Lillian to come home from the gallery to find a group of Peter’s friends relaxing in the family den, not always with Peter present. She always made them welcome. Lillian was predeceased by her husband, Milton, who died in 1999. Lillian is survived by her adored children, Richard and Ann Kornbluth of Syracuse, New York, Peter and Story Kornbluth of Santa Barbara, California, and Janet and Eddie Tucker of Joshua Tree, California. She will be missed by her precious grandchildren Rebecca Kornbluth of Temecula, California, Jeremy Kornbluth and Catherine Delorenzo of Rockville, Maryland, Day Kornbluth and Max Pittman of Brooklyn, New York, and Natalie Kornbluth of San Francisco, California; and her great-grandchildren, Arthur and Louisa Pittman of Brooklyn, New York, and Eli Kornbluth of Rockville, Maryland.