Mary Ellin Barrett 1926-2022 | In Memoriam

Longtime trustee has died

Juilliard trustee emerita Mary Ellin Barrett died on July 16, 2022, at 95. She had served on the Juilliard board for 16 years, from 1989 to 2005, when she became trustee emerita.

In a tribute for the New York Times, President Emeritus and Chief China Officer Joseph Polisi called Barrett “a person of exceptional intellect and exquisite taste who possessed a true sense for how the performing arts should be taught,” adding that “she was a very important voice in how the Juilliard tradition should be strengthened for the future.” Her Juilliard board tenure included service on the development, nominating, and drama committees.

The oldest daughter of Ellin Mackay and composer Irving Berlin, Mary Ellin Barrett was born November 25, 1926, and was a lifelong New Yorker. She graduated from Barnard College in 1949 and worked at publications including Time magazine, as a researcher-reporter; Cosmopolitan, as a writer; and Glamour and Vogue, as an editor. She also wrote for The Reporter and Women’s Day. Her books include three novels and Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir.

In 1952, she married writer and journalist Marvin Galbraith Barrett, who predeceased her in 2006. They shared a byline for a monthly column on the arts for Good Housekeeping. Barrett is survived by a sister, Linda Emmet; four children, Elizabeth (Sasha) Matson, Irving Barrett, Mary Ellin Lerner, and Katherine (Benjamin) Swett; grandsons Peter and James Matson, Benjamin Lerner, and Nicky and William Swett (Pre-College ’18, double bass); and great-grandson Jude Lerner.