Frances Steyer Sirota Martinson
Frances Steyer Sirota Martinson passed away Oct. 7, 2012. She lived a wonderful life as a lawyer, community trustee and mother. Her friends often spoke of her determination and love of life.
Frances was born March 7, 1923, in New York City to Herman and Augusta (Simon) Steyer of Brooklyn, New York. She married Nathan Hertz Sirota on Dec. 25, 1951, and the couple had two children. Nathan passed away in 1964, and she married Paul Martinson on Aug. 21, 1969, who preceded her in death in 1994.
Frances earned a B.A. in English literature at Cornell University in 1944 and an LL.B. (J.D.) at Columbia Law School in 1945. She was a partner in the New York law firms of Sirota, Bernstein & Steyer and Steyer & Sirota, where she practiced with her brother and mentor, Murray Steyer. She briefly served as Justice for the Village of Croton-on-Hudson in 1961.
She was a wonderful mother, grandmother and friend. Frances was a voracious reader, an earnest intellectual, and she loved to travel. She was a Fellow of the Aspen Institute and visited Japan, China, the Soviet Union, South America, Israel and especially Europe, many times opting to take her children to show them the world.
Frances also loved theater and music. She served as a trustee of The Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund and of arts organizations including The Edith Warton Restoration, The Dance Theater of Harlem, The American Folk Art Museum, The Pearl Theatre Company and Shakespeare & Co. of Lennox, Mass.
Frances is survived by her children: John Sirota Martinson (Suzanne) of Paradise Valley, Ariz., and daughter, Linda Martinson Mayer (Christopher) of New York, and five grandchildren: Jillian Mayer, Johanna Mayer and C.J. Mayer of New York, and Neo Martinson and Eco Martinson of Paradise Valley, Ariz. She was preceded in death by her two brothers, Murray Steyer of Scarsdale and Roy H. Steyer of New York. Tributes and memorials in her name may be made to The Frances S. Martinson Scholarship Fund at Columbia University Law School Shakespeare & Co., Lennox, Mass.; The American Folk Art Museum, New York; and The Martinson Foundation scholarship (at Arizona Community Foundation).
