Joanna Semel Rose

Joanna Semel Rose, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, collector, patron of the arts, and philanthropist, passed away peacefully on November 13, 2021, at her home in Manhattan. For many decades the Chairman of the Board of Partisan Review magazine, she became known to a broader public in 2011 through Infinite Variety, an exhibition of red and white early American patchwork quilts from her collection.

Notable for her remarkable intellect, wit, charm and interest in others, over half a century her renowned salons brought together an international group of artists, writers, educators and diplomats. Valedictorian at Lawrence High School and Bryn Mawr College, from which she graduated summa cum laude, she pursued graduate work at St. Hilda's College at Oxford University and served as assistant to Joseph L. Mankiewicz and as a producer at the Theatre Guild.

Elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012, she was an Honorary Fellow of St. Hilda's College, Oxford University and an Associate Fellow of Berkeley College, Yale University. She served on the boards of the New York Council for the Humanities, the New York Institute for the Humanities, the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, the advisory board of the CUNY Graduate Center for the Humanities, and the national advisory board of the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute.

She was a founding board member of Poets & Writers, the National Dance Institute, The Paper Bag Players, the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, Long Island, and The American Friends of St Hilda's. She commissioned numerous creative projects, including major works of modern Judaica that she donated to the Morgan Library. She was never happier than when she was learning.

Joanna S. Rose is survived by a vast extended family including her husband, her four children, and eleven grandchildren. Funeral and interment will be private. A memorial service will be held at a later date for her many friends and family. No flowers, please,

The funeral service for Joanna will be private but, available to view using the following link on Tuesday; November 16, 2021 at 9:00. The link will be live five minutes prior to service:

https://memorialstream.online/joanna-semel-rose/.

For those unable to visit in person, the family will be sitting for shiva online at 3:00 pm on Friday and noon on Sunday, Zoom Meeting ID: 831 4351 0349 and Passcode: 690734