To view the funeral please click here.
JoAnn Lee Edinburg Pinkowitz of Newton, MA and Manhattan, NY at 73 of GI cancer. She was married to Richard A. Pinkowitz for 51 years; who adored her from the moment they met. She is survived by her two loving sons, Andrew H. Pinkowitz and his wife Lisa Rondo Pinkowitz and their daughter Augusta Anya of Harrison, NY, and David E. Pinkowitz and his wife Randi Melton Pinkowitz and their child Chloe Emma, also of Harrison, NY, and Connor Joseph Pinkowitz and Allegra Grace Pinkowitz, both of Brooklyn, NY from a prior marriage. She was the daughter of Joseph Mayer Edinburg and Dorothy Braude Edinburg of Chestnut Hill, MA. She had two siblings, John David Edinburg of Brookline, MA and Hope Lynn Edinburg who predeceased her.
JoAnn was an energetic presence, passionate about her friends, her family and collecting art. JoAnn easily connected with people. She loved adventure, including self-guided trips to southeast Asia. She connected to people with a projected warmth and friendliness beyond language. In a trip to western China where foreigners were rare, JoAnn walked the street and would greet people with her big “Hello” and received smiles and “Ni haos,” in response.
She loved people and they reciprocated. She maintained friends from pre-school, her boarding school at Walnut Hill School in Natick, MA, in college at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, and even those made yesterday.
After family, JoAnn’s passion for art and collecting prints was her next priority. In the art world she was a scholar and a networker. She put her energy into researching and collecting Mexican Modernist Prints, at the time a yet underappreciated niche which connected with other wood block print movements around the world. In considering purchases she would network with the museum community to research significance and quality. She would discuss a print with a museum curator and after an hour of discussing the print, other art topics and mutual connections, JoAnn would have also made another friend. JoAnn networked within the museum community, built friendships and a museum quality collection of Mexican Modernist prints.
Her collection of Mexican Modernist print collection led to collecting Chinese Revolutionary prints from the Communist Revolution. The Mexican print collection led to collecting Mexican silver jewelry, which lead to collecting Bakelite jewelry. Jewelry naturally led to fashions, and JoAnn became an expert at finding vintage clothing in shops and yard sales. Each collection she carefully researched and measured with existing collections to assure that each piece was “museum quality.”
JoAnn was not only an art scholar, but she also loved adventure. Whether it was skiing expert trails in the western US, sailing on the family boat Tantrum from New York City to Maine, or travelling, she was up for adventure. She was an avid swimmer, in a pool or off the stern of Tantrum in the ocean. Richard loved southeast Asia and they made many trips, one which they titled “30 caves in 30 days.” It was a trek along the Northern Silk Road from the western border of China to Beijing, by plane, train, taxi, and camel. All on their own, without a guide. JoAnn had great trust in Richard’s rudimentary Chinese.
JoAnn loved to learn and share her learning with others. In her teens she was a volunteer in the Print and Drawings Department at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston. In her later years she also volunteered in the Asian Art Department and the Asian Art Conservation department at the MFA, as well as in the Asian Art Department at the British Museum.
JoAnn’s multiple interests and desire for “museum quality” collections connected her with many departments at museums. Her museum visits were packed with meetings in multiple departments. Her breadth of collecting knowledge and cross-departmental interest enhanced her meetings with every department and curators appreciated her enthusiasm.
JoAnn was more than successful, as many friends and colleagues said, “she was the rare person who was successful and still nice.”
Donations can be made to MGH Diabetes Research Center, c/o David M. Nathan, MD, 50 Staniford St., Suite 340, Boston, MA 02114.
Funeral services are at Temple Israel, Riverway, Boston, on Wednesday, July 27 at 11 AM. To view the livestream please click here. The family will host Shiva Wednesday afternoon and evening.
