77°
RYE, N.Y. Carol Neve Shiffman, executive director of the Music Conservatory of Westchester, died on Oct. 24 at her home in Rye following a battle with breast cancer. She was 65.
Born on Sep. 14, 1946, she worked on both coasts as a teacher and administrator at national dance and arts institutions.
In Los Angeles she was a teacher, performer and choreographer who founded her own dance company. She went on to become a prominent arts administrator, serving diverse communities through the California Arts Council, Washington's Centrum and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Wash.
According to Purchase College press release, she earned her undergraduate degree in comparative literature with a minor in dance at the University of Rochester and studied at the Sorbonne and UCLA.
Shiffman studied dance with the Martha Graham School, Alwin Nikolais Company, Merce Cunningham Company, Jose Limon Company and Bella Lewitsky Dance Company. She was also the director of the dance program at Long Beach City College from 1982 to 1985.
Shiffman later returned to New York as Dean of Dance at SUNY Purchase in 2007 and spent the last two and a half years at the Music Conservatory, which serves over 3,500 students.
She is survived by her husband Larry Harbison. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Carol Shiffman Fund at the Music Conservatory of Westchester, 216 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606. A funeral service was held at Ballard-Durand Funeral Home in White Plains on Thursday.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Rye and receive free news updates.
