Sharon B Casdin

Sharon Blaisedell Jones Casdin passed away peacefully at home on Monday, March 27th at the age of 83 surrounded by her family. She will be remembered for her independent spirit, her unfailing aesthetic eye, her unstinting generosity, and her keen wit. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1939, the second daughter of Madeline and Kinsey Jones, she spent her formative years on Appletree Trail in Westport, CT with a group who became life-long friends. Organizing the neighborhood kids into the “Royal Players,” and then writing and directing productions for them, was an early sign of Sharon’s creative flair and love of bringing people together. She arrived in NYC, like so many, to make her mark. Starting out as a stylist and later a photographer in the advertising industry, she soon found the passions that shaped and enriched her life: floral design, psychoanalysis, Judaism, and her future husband Jeffrey. Jeff came first, her neighbor across the hall in Greenwich Village. From those bohemian beginnings a few years before the Summer of Love, the two forged a life of warmth and creativity. Their bond is reflected in their three sons, Adam, Alexander, and Eli and in their forty-year restoration of a 1760’s colonial home in the Berkshires. These dual labors of love required all of Sharon and Jeff’s resourcefulness, creativity, and patience–particularly with their sons. They were rewarded with six lively, adoring, and adored grandchildren and a home that speaks to the depth of their intellectual and artistic sensibilities, their love of America and its history, and to their unshakeable partnership.

As a floral designer with her own firm, Sharon created arrangements for galas and private clients, including the yearly Planned Parenthood benefit. Her Berkshire gardens were renowned, and her devotion to the art and craft led her to serve on the President’s Council of the American Horticultural Society, as Vice Chair on the Board of Trustees of the Horticultural Society of New York, as a Trustee for the National Association of Olmsted Parks, and on the Chairman’s Council and as a Corporate Trustee for The Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts.

Sharon was as at home canning currant jam as she was hosting galas at the Horticultural Society, and in between found time to serve as Founding Board Member at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA, to head the Parents Association at The Collegiate School, where she is remembered as a tireless supporter of its faculty, to support students at Columbia University’s School of General Studies, and to raise her three equally industrious and independent-minded sons. Jeffrey, the love of her life, is remembered as a visionary broker and investor, and Sharon, above all, as an artist dedicated to her family and friends, with a love of creating beautiful moments that brought people together. Her cooking was daring and dazzling, her Hanukkah parties, featuring a candy-studded matzoh temple centerpiece, were unforgettable, and her fashion sense never less than chic. As one family member put it, “she was a bright, straight-talking, and sophisticated lady,” and, we would add, largely self-taught. We will all miss her big heart, the mischievous sparkle in her eye, and her fighting spirit.

Jeffrey predeceased her on October 23, 2005. She is survived by her sons Adam, Alexander, and Eli, daughters-in-law Blair, Susie, and Jenn, and grandchildren Zoë, Isadora, Kinsey, Blaisdell, Leason, and Charlotte, and her sisters Donna Prisendorf and Margot Jones.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Sharon’s name to the Horticultural Society of New York, 148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or The Trustees of Reservations, 200 High Street, Boston, MA 02110.