Barbara B. Heyman, Ph.D., May 9, 2025
Barbara B. Heyman passed away peacefully, at the age of 91, in St. Louis, Missouri on May 9, 2025, while listening to Brahms and surrounded by her family. Loving mother and mother-in-law to Jon Heyman and Karen Rowe, the late Lisa Heyman and Larry Gauchman, Ben Heyman, Ruth Heyman and Lisa Mandel, adoring grandmother to Jacob, Leah (Blake), Roxanne (Mike), Ruby, and Maxim (Sophia), and former wife to the late Marvin Heyman. Dear daughter of Sam and Susan Brody and sister of Paul Brody.
Born in Philadelphia and raised in Baltimore, she moved to New York to attend Barnard University and after marrying, never left NY. Passionate about education and music, she earned a BA in Music from Barnard, an MSW from Columbia, an MA and PhD in Music History from The Graduate School of New York City. With boundless energy she raised four children in Port Washington, NY, while running a hand painted pottery business, baking bread, making mustard, playing piano, learning violin, performing in a community orchestra, returning to graduate school for her last two degrees, and eventually working full time for Brooklyn College Department of Publications, retiring as the Director of Publications. The past 40 years she resided in her “little cottage in the city” on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and this past September she and her piano moved to St. Louis to be close to her daughter.
As the foremost biographer of American composer, Samuel Barber, she received the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for her book “Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music” and an NEH Grant allowing her to publish a thematic catalogue of Barber’s work. She regrettably left unfinished the publication of his diaries and letters. The Library of Congress houses the complete Barbara Heyman Research Materials on Samuel Barber.
Barbara never tired of telling anyone she met “it is never too late to reinvent yourself”, to which her life was a testament. She took tremendous pride in all her children and grandchildren and loved sharing her passions with everyone. A quintessential New Yorker, she engaged in conversation with strangers on the bus, in the park, at the symphony, her favorite coffee house, and numerous restaurants. Barbara lived her life with gusto and vitality and left a legacy of scholarly work and a creative, compassionate, and devoted family.
The family thanks the compassionate staff and caregivers at Allegro for providing a safe and loving home. As well, the angelic caregivers who tended to her in her final days-Angel, Rosalind, Sophia, Mary and Paris.
A service will be held on Tuesday, May 13th at 9:30 am at The Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 W. 76th Street in New York City, followed by a burial at King David Memorial Gardens in Putnam Valley, and an afternoon Shiva at the family’s home.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Amyloidosis Foundation or Parkinson’s Foundation.
