“A passionate gardener, baker, sailor, animal lover and advocate,” Nancy S. Cardoso “filled her life with reminders of the things she loved — nature, art, and speaking the truth,” according to those who knew her.
“She cared deeply for her family and friends.”
Ms. Cardoso, who grew up in East Hampton, died on Feb. 27 at home in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., of natural causes, her family said. She was 70.
A board member of the Neo-Political Cowgirls, a not-for-profit dance theater company here, she had lived in East Hampton until moving to Pennsylvania in 2022.
She enjoyed time at the ocean and “wholeheartedly believed in the medicinal qualities of ‘vitamin sea,’ “ her family wrote. She also had a knack for finding treasures in nature — “deer antlers, fallen feathers, or washed-up sea glass” — and could “turn random objects into intricate works of beauty with nothing but a glue gun.”
“Nancy was never afraid to speak her mind or share her wicked sense of humor, and with a laugh like hers, she could easily elicit the laughter of those around her,” her family said. They described her as “selfless to a fault” and said she “effortlessly made anyone feel comfortable in her presence as if they were an instant part of her family. To be loved by Nancy was to be accepted and appreciated for who you are, and those who knew Nancy also loved her exactly as she was.”
Friends and family remembered “the decadence of her baking” and how she spoiled “humans and animals alike with their favorite treats.”
Ms. Cardoso was born in Rockville Centre on March 31, 1954, to Gerald K. Sexton and the former Emily Jane Williamson. She attended the John M. Marshall Elementary School and East Hampton Middle and High Schools.
She and Dominick Cardoso were married on Sept. 21, 1986. They had a daughter, Corey Jane.
Mr. Cardoso survives, as does Corey Jane Cardoso, who lives in Philadelphia. Ms. Cardoso is also survived by two siblings, Lynn Sexton and Michael Duran, both of East Hampton. Her brother Mark Sexton died before her.
A celebration of her life will be held in East Hampton this summer. Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Neo-Political Cowgirls, online at npcowgirls.org, or Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons, P.O. Box 5, Jamesport 11947.
