Barbara (Brin) Hyatt, daughter of the late Bertha (Kastor) and Alexander Brin, passed away peacefully on January 1, 2019, from the effects of a stroke she suffered in August. Barbara was born in Boston, MA, and was raised in Brookline and Newton, graduating from Weeks Junior High and Newton High School. She continued her education at Colorado College, completing her BA in Anthropology at Boston University in 1949.
She married Bernard Hyatt in 1950 and the couple moved to Washington DC where she worked for the National Archives for two years, researching Indian Affairs. To the end of her life, she continued to support many Native American and other Civil Rights causes. In 1952, they moved back to the Boston area where they raised their three children. In the late 1960s, Barbara went back to work, first for the Department of Campus Planning at Boston College, and later as the administrator for the Department of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery at Harvard Dental School, from which she retired in 1993.
She was a talented water color artist and a devotee of CNN news programs and of British dramas on PBS. She traveled widely in Europe and read avidly, particularly non-fiction. She enjoyed classical music concerts and dance performances.
She is survived by her husband of 68 years, Bernard Hyatt, retired editor and publisher emeritus of the Jewish Advocate; her three children, Susan (Angela Herrmann), Judith (Fred Goldstein) and Joshua (Cynthia Post); five grandchildren, Ethan and Amelia Goldstein and Abraham, Noah and Eve Post-Hyatt; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister Frederika Brin.
A graveside service will be held Friday, January 4 at 11am at Beth Israel Memorial Park, 190 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453, with shiva observed Friday afternoon from 2-4pm and Sunday from 1-5pm at the home of Joshua Hyatt and Cynthia Post.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to The Trustees of the Newton Free Library and mailed to the Newton Free Library, Attn: Development Office, 330 Homer St., Newton, MA 02459. Please indicate that contribution should go to the Barbara Hyatt Memorial Fund. Donations may also be made online at www.newtonfreelibrary.net
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