Obituary of Leta B. Bostelman

January 31, 2021

BOSTELMAN - Leta (nee Buchanan). Of New York City, NY, formerly of Tenafly and Ringwood, NJ, on January 31, 2021, age 98, passing peacefully at home. A trailblazer, astute and inquisitive until the end. She will be missed. Her vibrant career included 20 years at Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (now Abrams Books), where she was VP and Managing Editor, retiring at age 73. She loved to travel with her loving husband William of 57 years (deceased in 2004), with a special fondness for London and Paris. She stayed abreast of the art world through frequent visits to museums in NYC including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. She always had opinions. She was an avid follower of current affairs and a voracious reader of history and contemporary works.
At age 88 she began regularly visiting her young grandchildren in California, with her most recent visit at age 97. She delighted in her grandchildren, teaching and getting to know them while playing countless board games and talking about the important events in their lives and hers.
Although a child of the Depression and young adult during WWII, she nevertheless believed that the Covid-19 pandemic and the Trump Presidency were the worst events of her life. She was relieved to have lived to see the Biden Administration elected to lead the nation and pleased to see the first woman Vice President.
During her young 20s, she made the bold decision to move from her birthplace in Troy, OH to NYC to embark on a career in professional writing, working for five years as public relations editor and researcher at General Motors, where she also met her future husband William. While raising her children she learned Russian and studied Russian literature at Columbia University, founded and ran for many years Townsend House Antiques in Tenafly, NJ, and was PTA president and a board trustee at the Englewood School for Boys (7-12) and Elisabeth Morrow School (K-6) in Englewood, NJ. Born in Troy, OH in 1922, Education, Ohio University and Columbia University. Widow of William T. Bostelman, survived by children Patricia and John, his wife Sookie, and grandchildren Chase and Brandon.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) at https://action.aclu.org/give/make-gift-aclu-someones-memory?ms=waystogive&ms_aff=NAT&ms_chan=web&initms=waystogive&initms_aff=NAT&initms_chan=web .