Anne Marie Vaccaro

(1947 - 2017)

GLENS FALLS | Anne Vaccaro died suddenly on Oct. 22, 2017 in Glens Falls Hospital. 

Anne vacationed annually at Blue Mountain Lake for her whole life, and began to spend several weeks a year at the lake in 2003, eventually becoming a summer and fall seasonal resident in 2009.

She was raised in Ambler, a northern suburb of Philadelphia, and earned a BFA from Beaver College (now Arcadia U), Glenside, Pennsylvania, and an MFA from Tyler School of Art (Temple U), Philadelphia. 

After graduate school in theater in Minneapolis, Anne moved to Atlanta in 1973 to show her paintings at Image South Gallery, 1970 Peachtree Rd., NE. 

Until 1992, Anne was a self-employed artist working with acrylic paints to create large canvas and paper paintings, which hang in scores of private, corporate, and public collections. 

In 1992, Anne began teaching art at Dekalb Community College (now Atlanta Perimeter). In 1995, she took a teaching position at Edison Community College, Piqua, Ohio, where she was professor of art and directed the theater program and numerous plays, mainly Shakespeare. She was beloved by her students for her gentle teaching, encouragement, and friendship. 

After retiring in 2009, Anne lived in Blue Mountain Lake in the summer and fall and Sedona, Arizona in the winter and spring, and May and November visited friends and family on the eastern seaboard. 

In retirement, at Blue Mountain Lake, she directed plays and explored media new to her, creating paper mache sculptural masks, ceramics, and, most recently, small acrylic landscapes accented by birch and cedar bark and twigs (on YouTube, Anne Vaccaro lake scapes). 

Anne directed plays for Our Town Theater Group, North Creek, and Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, Blue Mountain Lake. Anne was a member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Blue Mountain Lake.

Anne is survived by her life partner of over four decades, David Myers, and her dachshund, Logan, of five years, who consider her the nicest person they have known, and who miss her dearly. 

Anne was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Alice Vaccaro, who instilled in her a love of the Adirondacks. She had no siblings and no biological children. Anne considered her students to be her children for a semester or a few years, with many friendships continuing beyond. 

She was adored by David’s brother and sister and their families; her students; her cousins (many in the Syracuse area), nieces, and nephews, and numerous friends. 

Anne had a sparkle, a beaming smile, energy, humor, intellect, arts expertise, caring, generosity, and a friendly, welcoming persona. This most remarkable woman will be missed by all. 

A summer memorial service at Blue Mountain Lake will be announced in spring 2018. Anne lived the arts and for the arts, so those wishing to honor Anne’s memory are encouraged to support a local fine or performing arts program — community-based or school — by your attendance, participation, volunteering, and/or financial contributions, particularly the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, Blue Mountain Lake. Family and friends are encouraged to visit her memorial Web site to view and share, thelovelyannevaccaro.com.