Lee S. Halprin, who spent all of the past 53 summers in Chilmark, died on August 11, 2025, at the age of 97. He passed peacefully at home, with his wife, Abby, beside him.
He was born and raised in West Orange, N.J., with his parents, Julius and Florence (Kurz) Halprin, in a house full of books, politics, and culture.
After graduating from college in New Jersey, he married Elinor (“Elly”) Cheimets, and they moved to Cambridge, where they raised three children, Jeffrey, Julia, and Elizabeth. Lee attended Harvard, but left before obtaining his Ph.D. Most of his long teaching career was at the New England Conservatory of Music. A professor of humanities, his appreciation of the power of music allowed him to connect with his students and their lives, and many returned for advice and mentoring long after they graduated.
After he and Elly separated, Lee, his children, and his horses began a long residency at the historic Allen Farm in Chilmark. Catherine Allen and her daughter Clarissa agreed to let him renovate one of their old barns. He transformed it into a home while keeping the rough barn-ness he loved. Through Clarissa Allen and her husband Mitchell Posin, he built lasting friendships on the Island, loving long conversations in the sun on the deck. His ritual was always the same: a long run on Lucy Vincent Beach, a swim, read and write all day, and end with an evening gallop by the ocean. His frequent rides to Menemsha to buy fish were a familiar sight.
Lee married Abby Rockefeller in 1984, and became a loving and involved stepdad to her son Christopher Lindstrom. His and Abby’s lives were completely entwined. They delighted that their home here was a space shared with the horses, sitting together on the deck reading as one of the horses nuzzled their shoulders, or tried to get into the house to see what treats were hidden there.
Lee and Abby supported causes and candidates, hosting many fundraisers and candidates’ talks in their Chilmark home
Lee had extraordinarily wide-ranging interests and knowledge. He could dive into a discussion of “Moby-Dick” and in the next moment show his children how to read the Daily Racing Form at Suffolk Downs. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of history, art, culture, and literature, and a belief that the Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell and Bob Cousy style of team play should be a model for all human relationships. His interest in psychology and psychoanalysis led to his involvement in the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, which published several of his articles in its journal. Recently, with Abby’s strong encouragement and sharp editorial eye, Lee updated his doctoral thesis, and published it in 2021 as “An Essay in the History of the Radical Sensibility in America.”
Lee’s most powerful legacy is the people he touched. As Abby says, he had “an ability to be present with people in a way that led to conversations they never forgot.” Family, colleagues, his students, tradespeople, neighbors: An extraordinary number of people on and off the Island believe he fundamentally changed their lives for the better.
In addition to his wife, Abby, he leaves his children, Elizabeth, Julia and her husband, Ron Adams, Jeffrey and his wife, Carol Henderson Evans; his stepson, Christopher Lindstrom; his grandchildren, Andrew Halprin-Adams, Maya Collier and her husband Jermaine, Ruben Villarreal-Halprin and his fiancée Lonneke Eenkema van Dijk, Lianora Villarreal-Halprin, and Darin Evans and his wife Fenni Jin; and four great-grandchildren, Malakai and Jakai Collier and Lola and Atticus Evans.