Ann Amouri Lenard

Ann Lenard passed away peacefully at her home in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, on February 14, 2025 at the age of 90. She was surrounded by her loving family. 

Ann was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and spent memorable summers with her family in her mother’s native Canada, on the Bay of Fundy. As a young child, she was interested in the arts. By the age of 10, she was starring in plays for children that her father wrote for school performances. She played the piano and cello proficiently. She studied dance in high school, and was the May Queen in her senior year.

She travelled to England after graduating, and was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After her time at RADA, she went to New York to continue her acting studies. She signed on with the Ford Modeling Agency to pay for her life in the big city. She also took voice lessons, one of her inspirations being Ella Fitzgerald. She auditioned for Leonard Bernstein in a production of West Side Story, for the part of “Maria”. In one of her acting classes, Ann met her future husband, Mark Lenard. By the time they married and had their first child, they were performing together in “A Far Country”, a traveling production. Mark played the lead as Freud, and Ann had the role of his sister, “Dolfi”.

The couple moved to California in the mid-sixties, where Mark continued his acting career, while Ann raised their two daughters. She found that she preferred life outside of the spotlight. She became interested in academia, and pursued a masters degree in psychology from UCLA. Later, she found herself more drawn to art history, and completed her PhD at UC Santa Barbara at the age of 60. Her dissertation was a catalog of the paintings in the Santa Barbara museum. She travelled to the Lourve museum of art in Paris many times, and cherished her trips to visit the home and gardens of her favorite artist, Monet, in Giverny, France. 

Throughout their childhoods, Ann took her daughters to the Getty Museum and the Los Angeles Art Museum, teaching them how look at, and appreciate, art. She explained that Monet was an artist who used light, to elicit a feeling around an abstract object or landscape. Later, Ann continued doing extensive research on several of the French impressionists, often focusing on one artist for 2-3 years. 

Ann also “discovered” zen meditation, and studied with Joko Beck over the course of many years. This was a significant anchor as she navigated through her husband’s illness and death. After Mark passed away, Ann returned to La Jolla, California and became very active at the San Diego Zen Center. The sitting practices aligned with her calm, patient, contemplative nature. 

Her home in California was a few blocks from the Contemporary Art Museum, where she took drawing and painting classes. In addition to her meditation and research, Ann enjoyed yoga, Pilates, listening to jazz and classical music (she especially loved Tchaikovsky’s “ The Nutcracker” and “ Swan Lake”), taking in the beauty of her natural surroundings, and spending time with her family. She remained in California for the next 24 years. 

In the final chapter of her life, she moved to Jaffrey, New Hampshire to live with her daughter, Roberta and daughter-in-law, Kim. Her daughter Catherine and son-in-law Steve lived nearby and spent many weekends, holidays and precious moments with Ann. 

She was always there for her two daughters with support, enthusiasm, life -experience, and wisdom. The best word to describe her would be “diplomatic”. She could embrace both sides with empathy. She was loving, devoted, a great listener, beautiful, elegant, classy, and profoundly wise. She loved with one hundred percent of herself. She always said, “have faith, not fear”. 

Ann is predeceased by her mother, Edna (Butland) Amouri, her father, Leslie Amouri, and her husband, Mark Lenard.

She is survived by her daughters Roberta Lenard, Catherine Lenard-Gerberding, daughter-in-law Kimberly Souza, son-in-law Steven Gerberding, her sister Kathleen Sheridan, cousin Angela Leone and husband Ray Leone, cousin Vaughn Butland and wife Jo Butland, brother-in-law Harold Rosenson and his wife Linda Rosenson, along with many other cousins, nieces and nephews. 

It was no mistake that she died on Valentine’s Day, as she will live on forever in our hearts with infinite love. 

At her request, her ashes will be buried in a private ceremony beside her beloved husband, Mark’s.