Blue Hill
Marianne New passed away peacefully on Jan. 14, 2021, five months after her friends gathered for her 100th birthday celebration at the Parker Ridge Retirement Village, Blue Hill, the place she called home for 15 years. Marianne will be missed by family and friends from throughout the world. She was a dignified woman of grace, integrity and compassion. She was known for her boundless energy and her passion for living life to the fullest. At the age of 99, she could be seen driving her red car each and every day visiting friends, shopping, drinking cappuccinos and swimming at the YMCA. Swimming at Craig Pond was the highlight of her summer months. She will be remembered for her infectious laugh, her appreciation of music, her love of the natural world, her embrace of spiritual teachings and her support of progressive causes.
Marianne was born on Sept. 6, 1920, and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, by parents Paul and Rosa(nee Wyler) Dreyfus. Her Swiss identity was very important to her throughout her life. She traveled to Switzerland often, maintained close friendships with her European friends and local Maine Swiss friends as well, celebrated Swiss holidays and ate lots of fondue and raclette. Her Blue Hill friends could always look forward to Swiss chocolate for presents. She attended international schools, learned and spoke several languages and studied with renowned child psychologist Jean Piaget. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1941 when fascism swept across Europe, first settling in New York City. There she worked at the Lexington School for the Deaf. She often told the story of the difficult task of leading a group of students on an outing to the Central Park Zoo. On a vacation to Maine, she and her family visited Echo Lake on MDI and it is here that Marianne fell in love with Maine and decided to make it her home. Her favorite place on MDI was Wonderland, where she took daily walks with her beloved great Dane Tony.
She married Eric New in 1946 and traveled the Far East for Eric’s work. These travels imbued Marianne with a knowledge and an appreciation of Eastern philosophy, which had a significant influence on her life. They lived in NYC and were summer residents of MDI. Eventually they built a home in Bass Harbor and lived in Maine full time until Eric’s death in 1966. She and Eric shared a love of chamber music. She then lived in Basel part time and met Dolf Portman, a zoologist, who became her partner until his death in 1982. While in Switzerland, Marianne worked with Elizabeth Kubler Ross and assisted her in presenting workshops on death and dying all over the world. In the 1970s in Maine, she became close friends with back-to-land icons Helen and Scott Nearing, sharing their life principles and interest in organic gardening. It is through her relationship with Helen Nearing that she met her dear friend Nancy Berkowitz.
Marianne was preceded in death by her husband, Eric New, her partner Dolf Portman, her brother Pierre Dreyfus and her nephew Paul Dreyfus. She is mourned and missed by Dreyfus family members nephew Andy, niece Susan, grandnephew and nieces Henry, Ashley and Nell, great-grandnephew Benjamin, cousins David and Victor Wyler and Diane, Robin, Samantha and Celia; by her adopted Berkowitz family Nancy, Warren, Jacob, Jenny, Sarah, Masi, Nachshon and Nandi and by countless friends near and far. A celebration of Marianne’s life will be held in late summer. If moved to do so, people may donate in Marianne’s name to a local nonprofit.
In keeping with her generous spirit, Marianne gifted her body to the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“Now has stilled a noble heart. May a host of heavenly angels pipe her to her rest.” (Shakespeare)
“For there is always light if we are brave enough to see it, if we are brave enough to be it.” (Amanda Gorman)