Ruth Appelhof, the director at Guild Hall from 1999 to 2016 and an art history scholar, died last Thursday at home in Springs after living with leukemia for two years, according to her husband, Gary Adamek. She was 80.
Following a lifetime of energetic and diligent work, she did not let cancer be an impediment. In recent months, she appeared at events to publicize her book “Lee and Me: An Intimate Portrait of Lee Krasner,” which is scheduled to be published on May 19.
In marking her death, the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center noted that she was a Pollock-Krasner Foundation fellow there from 2017 to 2019. She was also a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome in 2017.
She took up the book project after her retirement from Guild Hall. It is based on time she spent interviewing the artist Lee Krasner in 1974 for her master’s thesis. A graduate student at Syracuse University, Ms. Appelhof stayed at Krasner’s house in Springs that summer, serving as researcher, companion, and driver.
Her tenure at Guild Hall was marked by a reinvigorated program of theatrical events, well-reviewed and well-attended art exhibitions, and the expansion and restoration of the building and theater. One of her last initiatives before her retirement was the purchase of a house on Dunemere Lane that became the home of Guild Hall’s artist-in-residence program, now in its fifth year.
Guild Hall has set up a remembrance page on its website for its board and staff to share their thoughts. Josh Gladstone, whom she hired as artistic director of Guild Hall’s theater, said of her, “You taught me about leadership and you taught me about loyalty, and while it’s true that we didn’t always see eye to eye, you were always kind to me and to all of your beloved staff. You invited us to your home, you encouraged us to excel, and you were tireless in your devotion to Guild Hall. You held the lantern high, you lit the way for us.”
Christina Strassfield, who worked as curator and director for the museum during Ms. Appelhof’s tenure, said, “Ruth would often ask questions that she knew the answer to but wanted to hear everyone’s opinion before deciding which way she needed to proceed in the best interest of [Guild Hall]. I remember early on she said that her job [there] was the best job that she ever had. I think she felt that till the very end. She loved . . . the museum, theater, and education. Ruth cared about the artists in our community and tried to get them involved in whatever way she could think of.”
Posting on Instagram, Alec Baldwin, a Guild Hall board member during her tenure, called her “an absolutely winning, witty, wonderful woman and a great friend and colleague.”
A native of Washington, D.C., she was born on Feb. 14, 1940, to Ann Augusta Parsons Stevens and Edward Charles Stevens. From 1962 to 1985, she lived in Skaneateles, N.Y., where she was a mother, student, professor, and gallery owner. She pursued her undergraduate through doctorate degrees at Syracuse University, concentrating on American modernism, and was a Helena Rubenstein Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan. She then became chief curator at Syracuse’s Lowe Art Gallery.
At the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, she fostered its contemporary art and photography collections. Prior to taking a position at Guild Hall, she was a professor at Empire State College at Auburn and at Syracuse University, teaching graduate and undergraduate classes in art history, museum management, curatorial methodology, and collections development. She also served as director of the Art Museum of Western Virginia, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Conn.
Ms. Appelhof was a member of East Hampton’s Ladies Village Improvement Society and a board member of the American Federation of Arts.
An only child, in addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Greg Appelhof of Minneapolis and Lee Ann Earle of Sanford, Fla. She is also survived by her stepchildren, Grady Adamek Edelstein of Edgemont, N.Y., and Adam Adamek of Brookline, Mass., as well as 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Donations in her memory can be made to Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton 11937, the L.V.I.S., 95 Main Street, East Hampton, and Weill Cornell-New York Presbyterian Hospital, 525 East 68th Street, New York City 10021, in honor of Dr. Gail Roboz, her primary leukemia doctor.
A private graveside service will be held by her family when it is safe to do so. A celebration of her life will take place at a future date at Guild Hall.
