We are sad to share the news that Barbara Lipton, art historian, adventurer, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, died in Red Bank, N.J. on May 1, 2026. Born in Newark, N.J. to Joseph and Grace Barrett, Barbara graduated from Weequahic High School at the age of sixteen. She attended the University of Iowa, where she majored in English and received the first of an impressive number of (unaccepted) marriage proposals. She then earned a master’s degree in art history at the University of Michigan.
Barbara soon moved to Paris, where she taught English before landing a job with the Marshall Plan. Her time in Paris was undoubtedly the formative period of her life. She met her lifelong best friend, Sylvie Delécluse, became fluent in French, frequented modern art galleries, acquired a taste for fine food, and garnered at least two more (unaccepted) marriage proposals. After four years in Paris Barbara moved to Madrid to take up a job as a secretary in the America Embassy, where she adopted a small dog, lived on her own, and learned Spanish.
In 1958, Barbara was finally ready to marry and start a family. She returned to the U.S., settled in New York City, and within a short time met and married her husband of 42 years, Milton Lipton, an economist, intellectual, natural-born gentleman, divorced father of three, and (in Barbara's words) a "real looker." They raised three children -- a son, Joshua, and twin daughters, Sara and Beth -- in South Orange, N.J. In 1970 Barbara returned to school to earn a master's in library science and became first Library Director and then Special Projects Director at the Newark Museum, where she curated the bicentennial exhibition Whaling Days in New Jersey and the blockbuster show SURVIVAL: Life and Art of the Alaskan Eskimo. While at the Museum, Barbara wrote a number of books and catalogues and produced the groundbreaking documentary "Village of No River" with her beloved friends in the Yup'ik community of Kwigillingok, Alaska. After many years at the Newark Museum, Barbara became Director of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on Staten Island.
Barbara and Milton shared a love of travel, journeying together throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. After Milton's death in 2001, Barbara moved to Atlantic Highlands, N.J., where she made many new friends and became head of the Arts Council, even as she maintained her connection to her South Orange and Newark circles. But she was not yet done with adventuring. At the age of 91, while visiting a friend in Tucson, she spontaneously bought an apartment and moved out West. At her children's urging, in 2023 she reluctantly agreed to return to the Jersey Shore "for the summers only." She died peacefully in her sleep, on May 1, 2026, after a short period of decline.
Barbara is survived by her children Joshua and Sara; her stepchildren Nancy, Joan, and Andy; many grandchildren and one great-grandchild. They and her many friends around the world will remember her as a woman of strong will, with a zest for life and a lively sense of humor and fun, who loved her family deeply (albeit often from afar).
A private service for the family will be held in NYC. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council, the Newark Museum, or the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. Thompson Memorial Home of Red Bank, NJ has been entrusted with the arrangements.
Comments powered by CComment