Our beloved wife, mother and dear friend, Marjorie Barkin Searl (Margie), passed away peacefully on September 15, 2024, surrounded by family. She died from a combination of metastatic cancer and multi-organ failure; conditions identified only four months prior.
Margie was born in Boston, MA to adoring parents, Thelma and Alan Barkin. She was a descendent of Jewish immigrants who fled antisemitism in Eastern Europe and Russia in the mid-to-late 1800s. Margie was part of a large, close-knit, loving, Jewish family, growing up amidst cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents. As a child and adolescent, she resided in Newton, MA alongside her younger brother, Daniel.
Margie attended Smith College where, at age 17, she met her future husband and soulmate, Scott Searl. From the time they met they were inseparable. They married when she graduated and subsequently moved to Washington Heights, NY, where Scott was in medical school. Margie earned her master’s degree in education at Columbia University and went on to teach English in Irvington, NY. Following Scott’s graduation from medical school they spent several months in Europe and then, to the delight of Margie’s baseball-loving father, settled in Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In Cooperstown, Margie completed a Museum Studies program and gave birth to their oldest child, Meghan. During their time in Cooperstown, they developed deep, lifelong friendships. Even though Scott worked long hours, they found many opportunities to bask in the smalltown charm and beauty of rural central New York.
Toward the end of his medical internship, Scott faced the possibility of being drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. He made a calculated choice to enlist as a physician in the Navy, which brought the small family to Groton, CT for two years. Their second daughter, Rebecca, was born toward the end of their stay, shortly before they settled in Rochester, NY, which would become their hometown. James was born while they were living in their first Rochester home, a few years before they moved to nearby Brighton, NY. This was where they ultimately resided and where Margie and Scott’s children graduated from high school.
Margie’s love of art, museum education, and historical research led her to a thoroughly satisfying career as an educator and, eventually, to become Chief Curator at the Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester. In this environment she thrived, making numerous contributions via her curatorial expertise, gift of language and unique vision of how art could touch the lives of anyone and everyone. She developed deep collegial relationships, many of which transformed into longstanding, cherished friendships. She juggled a marriage, three growing children, aging parents, multiple pets, a burgeoning career and a strong commitment to the community of Rochester with grace and joy.
She grew to be a highly valued member of many communities, increasingly sought out for her intelligence, expertise, wisdom and ingenuity. She retired as Chief Curator of MAG in 2013, going on to pursue her own passions. These included but were not limited to: research on Rochester patron of the arts, Emily Sibley Watson, efforts to rebuild the Children’s Pavilion in Highland Park, and helping Mt. Hope Cemetery to develop an archive of holocaust victims who are buried there. She was on numerous local boards, mentored disadvantaged students, and assisted refugee families from Afghanistan and Iraq. She truly embodied the ideal of tikkun olam, the commitment to repair brokenness in the world through works of justice and righteousness as well as acts of loving kindness.
Margie was beloved – by her family, her friends, her colleagues and her community. She leaves so many of us heartbroken, including her utterly devoted husband, Scott, her three children, Meghan (Greg Harris), Rebecca (Nathan Johnson), and James (Perin Gürel) and her three grandchildren, Kaden (12), Marjane (9) and Isaac (5). To say that we will miss her does not begin to capture the gaping hole that her absence leaves in our lives. While we are crushed by her loss, we will strive as much as we are able to honor her by living lives of generosity, compassion, curiosity and joy. We encourage all who loved her to do the same.
