In Memoriam Ellyn Polshek (1930-2026)
Ellyn Polshek. Photo courtesy of Catherine Chermayeff.
Longtime ALBA board member Ellyn Polshek, who passed away peacfully at her home in Greenwich Village on May 12, was born Ellyn Margolis in Boston in 1930. After graduating from Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, she embarked on a successful career in publishing—first as Managing Editor at Grossman Publishers, a Division of the Viking Press, then as a Senior Editor at Holt, Rinehart and Winston, and later at William Morrow—. She then enrolled at Columbia Law, where she received her JD in 1985. In this second phase of her professional life, she practiced law as an Assistant District Attorney in the Appeals Bureau at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, arguing her cases before the Appellate Division in New York County and, when necessary, at the Court of Appeals in Albany.
Ellyn had a keen and curious mind, a sharp sense of humor, and a passion for social justice—and for Paris. She was brought onto the ALBA board by the late Peter Carroll, whom she had met through Victor Navasky, then editor of The Nation. At the time, Ellyn served as executor of the Alger and Isabel Hiss estate. “Through conversations with this interesting man with a New York accent,” she wrote a couple of years ago in a tribute to Peter, “I discovered the sad truth that without the help of the United States, France and England, Franco could not be defeated.” On the ALBA board, Ellyn was a vocal advocate for social outreach, an outstanding fundraiser, and a generous supporter of our educational programs.
Preceded in death by her husband of 70 years, the Akron-born architect James Stewart Polshek (1930-2022), Ellyn is survived by her children, Peter and Jenny Polshek, and her grandchildren, Lucien and Solomon.
