Constance Pollak
Constance Pollak, beloved wife of James Pollak, died peacefully at her home in Santa Barbara on December 5, 2025. She was 92.
Connie had great warmth, charm and intelligence. Her lifelong interest in the arts and design was started by her mother, Frances, and enhanced through the education which Connie valued so highly, as well as through personal and professional interests. Connie had a special capacity to engage with people and this gave her great pleasure. Making the most of any situation was central to her character, leading her to create rewarding lives for herself and her family in the many places in which they lived.
She was born Constance Weintraub on November 24, 1933 in Philadelphia, a city whose ethos she always admired. At 14, the family moved to Los Angeles where Connie was an excellent student and very involved in extracurricular activities at Beverly Hills High School. She became a lifelong admirer of California.
At 14 she also met Jim Pollak whom she would marry in 1954. While working on Saturdays and vacations Connie gained a mentor, Amelia Gray, who opened the first designer fashion boutique in the United States and taught Connie about business, style and customers—passions which endured throughout her life.
Connie attended Smith College and left early to marry Jim. Before their marriage, Connie moved to New York City where she worked at Bergdorf Goodman. The experience helped refine her keen and lasting talent for fashion and design and she was also the employee selected to be Miss Bergdorf.
Connie and Jim married in New York in June 1954 and almost immediately Jim was drafted into the U.S. Navy. Following officer training in the United States Jim was stationed in the Philippines and their first child, Catherine, was born in Manila. The young couple began their 68 years of marriage with an adventure that led them to later choose a lifestyle of international assignments and new experiences.
In 1957 the family returned to Los Angeles, where Connie resumed her undergraduate education as an English major at UCLA. Two years later, their second child, Brad, was born. In 1966, Jim was selected for a Ford Foundation management program that placed him with the Banco de Comercio. The family move to Mexico City established an enduring affection for Mexico. There, Connie founded her own interior design business which she continued when the family moved to London. Connie found London very stimulating. They later returned to Mexico City and eventually settled in San Francisco, where they spent many years.
While living and working in San Francisco, Connie fulfilled a long-held goal by earning her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley—a testament to her tenacity, discipline and lifelong love of learning.
In the mid-1990s, guided by a shared sense of adventure, Connie and Jim moved to Ennis, Montana, a small town on the Madison River. There they built a house and a rich family life that grew to include four grandsons, Alex, Will, Dylan and Holden who visited often and delighted in time spent with their grandparents.
After many years dividing time between Ennis and Santa Barbara, Connie and Jim settled in Santa Barbara. In 2013, when Connie was eighty years old, they embarked on an ambitious round the world trip that included Russia, Egypt, Turkey and China. During that trip, Jim arranged for Connie to hold and feed a baby panda—an experience that sparked a profound affection for the animals and became one of her most cherished memories.
Connie and Jim shared a wonderful relationship spanning 75 years. Connie often said that Jim had given her an incredible life and that she was deeply grateful for the time they spent together. Jim died in 2022. Following Jim’s illness and death, Connie became more involved with the Santa Barbara community. She found joy in the beauty of her surroundings, in concerts, visiting the museum, spending time with her lovely neighbors and attending All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church.
Connie left an indelible mark on all who knew her. True to her outlook on life, she met every challenge with optimism and resolve, often reminding herself and others “Onward and upward!”
