On June 27, 2010, Fred Seeman and Helene Zucker Seeman were heading home after dinner at a friend’s house—a 10 minute drive. As they were turning into their driveway, a drunk driver with a BAC nearly three times the legal limit and driving 20 miles per hour over the speed limit on a dark two-lane road, crashed into the Seemans’ vehicle. Helene, who was sitting in the passenger seat where the car struck, was pronounced dead at the scene. Fred was transported in a Medevac helicopter to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.
Helene left behind two sons—Ford, and Curtis who were 23 and 17 respectively at the time of the crash.
Helene was an enthusiastic and bright person. She was always smiling and lived life to the fullest. She was a distinguished art curator in New York, working as the director of the Art Acquisition Program for the Prudential Life Insurance Company. She also worked as an adjunct professor at New York University’s School of Continuing Education.
Helene was active in and loved by those in her community. On September 11th, 2001, Helene was living in Battery Park City and active participated in the relief effort cleaning up her neighborhood.
Her son Ford shared a story in her eulogy of his experience telling an employee at the local rental car company Helene used occasionally:
“Not knowing who the woman was behind the desk, I introduced myself and told her I was sorry to inform her of my mother’s passing. The reaction of this woman, this woman who to me meant nothing, started crying uncontrollably. This was the effect my mother had. She was a pure soul who had the social graces of any of history's greatest queens. She was a queen, she was my queen, and my light and my love.”
The Brooklyn Museum has established the Helene Zucker Seeman Memorial Exhibition Fund to support a variety of exhibitions by a recognized or emerging woman artist that will be presented at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
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