Suzannah Lessard

Suzannah Terry Lessard (December 1, 1944 – January 29, 2026) was an American writer of literary nonfiction. Lessard served as a staff writer for The New Yorker and one of the original editors of the Washington Monthly. Throughout her nearly 50 years as a writer and editor, Lessard wrote two memoirs, reportorial pieces, essays, and opinion pieces both personally and professionally.

Early life and career

Lessard was born on December 1, 1944, to John Ayres Lessard and Alida Mary Lessard ().^[1][2][3] Her birthplace is reported variously as Islip, New York,^[1] or Smithtown, New York.^[3] She is the great-granddaughter of architect Stanford White.^[4] She has taught at Columbia School of the Arts, Wesleyan University, The New School, George Mason University, George Washington University, and Goucher College.^[5]

She was one of the first editors of the Washington Monthly from 1971 to 1974.^[6] For 20 years she was a staff writer at The New Yorker.^[5] She has also published in The New York Times Magazine, Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, The Wilson Quarterly and Harvard Design Magazine.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life and death

Lessard was the great-granddaughter of Stanford White, the architect who designed Madison Square Garden.^[7] She was also one of five sisters who grew up in a cottage on Long Island, which was owned by the family since the 17th century. In her 1996 memoir The Architect of Desire, she recounts that on New Year's Day, 1989, after much inner turmoil, she gathered with her siblings, who all recounted being abused by their father.^[3]

She married David Soeiro, an attorney, in 1974. They had a son, Julian Soeiro. Lessard and Soeiro later divorced. Lessard later married Noel Brennan, and resided in New York with her, until Lessard's death.^[3]

Lessard died from complications of endometrial cancer at a hospital in Manhattan, New York, on January 29, 2026, at the age of 81.^[3]

Awards and honors

• 1995 Whiting Award^[8]
• 2003 Mark Lynton History Prize, Mapping the New World: An Inquiry into the Meaning of Sprawl^[9]

Fellowships

• 2001–2002 Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.^[10]
• 2002–2003 Jenny McKean Moore Fellowship for creative non-fiction, at George Washington University^[11]

Works

Lessard was the author of the critically acclaimed^{[by whom?]} memoir, The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family (1996).

Her next book, The View From a Small Mountain: Reading the American Landscape, was published in 2017.^[12]

In 2019, Lessard published The Absent Hand: Reimagining Our American Landscape, which Michael Kimmelman described as "thoughtful, exquisitely written collection of interconnected essays".^[13]

Anthologies

• Elaine Greene (ed.) (2006). "The Luxury of Order". If These Walls Could Talk: Thoughts of Home. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 978-1-58816-611-1.

References

1. ^ Who, Marquis Who's (December 1996). Who's Who of American Women, 1997-1998. Marquis Who's Who. p. 2455. ISBN 978-0-8379-0422-1. LESSARD, SUZANNAH TERRY, writer; b. Islip, N.Y., Dec. 1, 1944; d. John Ayres and Alida Mary (White)
2. ^ Lessard, Suzannah (23 January 2013). The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family. Random House Publishing Group. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-307-83048-7. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
3. ^ Green, Penelope (2026-02-07). "Suzannah Lessard Dies at 81; Stanford White Descendant Who Wrote a Haunting Family Memoir". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-02-07.
4. ^ Jaleshgari, Ramin P. (22 September 1996). "Stanford White And His Life Under Scrutiny Of Descendant (Published 1996)". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
5. ^ "Lessard, Suzannah". The New School. Archived from the original on December 18, 2008.
6. ^ "Suzannah Lessard". Washington Monthly. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009.
7. ^ Lessard, Suzannah (1996-07-01). "Stanford White’s Ruins". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-02-07.
8. ^ "Suzannah Lessard". Whiting Foundation. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
9. ^ "J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project winners". Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
10. ^ "Center Announces Fellows for 2001-2002". Wilson Center. May 14, 2001. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
11. ^ "Jenny McKean Moore Professorship". Department of English, Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. George Washington University. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
12. ^ [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_View_from_a_Small_Mountain.html?id=eDPjCgAAQBAJ"Google Books"]
13. ^ Kimmelman, Michael (2019-04-18). "A Meditation on Our Relationship to the Landscapes We Inhabit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-03.

External links

• "Suzannah Lessard and Honor Moore", BOMB 57, Betsy Sussler, Fall 1996
• Profile at The Whiting Foundation
• DOREEN CARVAJAL (October 30, 1996). "AT LUNCH WITH: Suzannah Lessard: Purging the Nightmare Of a Storied Estate". The New York Times
• Gunnthórunn Gudmundsdóttir (2003). Borderlines: autobiography and fiction in postmodern life writing. Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-1145-8.
• João de Pina-Cabral & Antónia Pedroso de Lima (eds.) (2000). Elites: choice, leadership and succession. Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85973-399-8.