Randie Wasserman, 76, died at home in East Hampton on Oct. 27 from complications of a stroke.
A freelance designer and illustrator in New York City for many years, she pivoted to paralegal studies in the early 1990s before moving to East Hampton.
Ms. Wasserman was born in Baltimore on Dec. 6, 1946, to Louis Wasserman and the former Ralene Frank. She grew up in Pikesville, Md., a Baltimore suburb, and attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she majored in graphic design. After graduating in 1968, she became a SoHo pioneer, renovating a loft in what was then a neglected industrial neighborhood.
Her freelance clients included the textbook publishers Houghton Mifflin, McMillan Publications, and Curricula Concepts Inc., among many others. She joined the New York Society of Illustrators and exhibited her work at its headquarters, as well as at Guild Hall in East Hampton. One of her prints is in the permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
When she moved to East Hampton, Ms. Wasserman became a facilitator for the Separated, Divorced, and Bereaved support group, for which she was a skillful bridge builder, her friends wrote. “Randy was admired for her lively sense of humor, open heart, and thoughtful advice.”
“Always a fierce fighter,” they said, Ms. Wasserman supported animal rights charities, the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, and the Democratic Party.
Her friends described her as “a multitalented woman who worked as a real estate agent at Tina Fredericks Realty and later as a paralegal for Leonard Ackerman in East Hampton and David Fields in Manhattan.”
She “nourished a diverse group of friends — artists and lawyers, entrepreneurs and actors, poets and composers.” Her love of film led her to work with the founder of the Hamptons International Film Festival to help bring the idea to fruition. She subsequently volunteered with the festival for many years.
“An avid collector of objects and ephemera, Randie had a keen eye for the unusual, the beautiful, and the surprising,” her friends wrote. “A romp in the town thrift store (L.V.I.S.), an afternoon at the opera, or an endless dance at the Wild Rose in Bridgehampton would thrill her.”
Ms. Wasserman was a devoted single mother to her son, Jordan Eisenberg, and was also “a practical visionary and tireless giver to those in need,” according to her friends. “She had street smarts; she had taste; she was an amateur detective,” they said. “She had the imagination to create with an innate sense of good design — all given with a down-to-earth chutzpah that reeled people (and stray cats) in.”
She had a respect and love for all animals, especially cats, that friends said “reflected her gentle soul. She had orange ones, long-haired ones, ragdoll and tuxedos, and the occasional feral. They and her friends became her extended family.”
They also praised her sense of style. “Whether donning a red scarf or hat, fuzzy boots or textured top, Randie sparkled.”
She loved going to the beach, in particular late in the day. Taking a walk or lounging under an umbrella, “she had animated conversations with her companions and acquaintances that dropped by,” friends recalled. “Her beguiling stories will live on.”
Ms. Wasserman “was a gift to those who loved her,” her friends wrote.
Her son, who lives in New York City, was by her side at the end along with his partner, Sasha Perez.
Ms. Wasserman’s parents died before her, as did her brother, Myron Levy.
