Sharon Feldman Rowe died March 25, 2024, at the age of 67, from a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.
She was born in 1957 in New Britain, Conn. Sharon was a trained actor, entrepreneur, author, environmentalist, prolific painter, and loving wife and mother. She was mission-driven, and shared her ideas with intelligence, compassion, and a sense of humor that kept it all very real and grounded.
As an actor, Sharon was in numerous productions in New York City, Connecticut and Maine regional theaters, and Westchester, N.Y., from the late 1970s to 2024.
Sharon founded ECO-Bags Products in 1989, introducing cotton mesh string bags. “Cleaning up the planet one bag at a time” was her motto and goal. Launching this original reusable bag company was trailblazing, and incited a movement in the U.S. Sharon’s vision and her company have been featured in Time, Forbes, and Glamour magazines. ECO-Bags was recommended on Oprah’s first dedicated Earth Day show. Thousands of retailers nationwide, including several on Martha’s Vineyard, sell ECO-Bags cotton mesh and canvas bags.
Looking to shape business as a force for good, Sharon wrote about building ECO-Bags to meet her life needs in “The Magic of Tiny Business” (Berrett-Koehler). This experience shaped her role as a speaker and a thought leader.
Camp Woodstock experiences resulted in Sharon becoming an avid environmentalist. She found solace in nature through long swims (including twice across the Hudson River), walks in the woods with friends, and summer days at ponds and beaches, including several favorites on Martha’s Vineyard, where she came with her family many summers to visit her youngest sister and brother-in-law.
Sharon added “artist” to her résumé a few years ago after joining the community at the Bethany Arts Center as its first resident artist. She quickly became a prolific painter, always seeking to improve her skills.
Sharon loved her family completely, was incredibly devoted to her friends, and embraced every day to the fullest. Her support of both of her entrepreneurial sisters was unending. Her welcoming presence had the effect of making everyone around her feel as if they were her best friend, which was actually true. From book clubs to nonprofits, Sharon was beloved in whatever circles she traveled.
She was predeceased by her father, Milton Feldman, and is survived by her mother, Joan Feldman; her husband, Blake Rowe; her children, Julian and Eva Rowe; her sisters, Ellen Feldman Ornato and her husband George, and Heidi Feldman and her husband Curtis Friedman of Vineyard Haven; and her beloved nieces, Carolyn and Allison Ornato.
