Jane Chaleff

Jane Chaleff, the well-loved children’s librarian at Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton, died after sustaining injuries in a fall in her East Hampton home on August 11. She was 63.

Born in Albany, she moved around with her family during her youth before eventually returning to New York to settle in Preston Hollow. She graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Massachusetts and earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University as a French major. Later, when her only child, Ben, was in grade school, she pursued her master’s degree in library science at C.W. Post campus of Long Island University.

She met her husband, architect Bill Chaleff, while visiting a friend in New York. Living in Philadelphia at the time, she had called the friend because of a recent breakup with a boyfriend. Shortly before she was expected to arrive in the city, her friend bowed out and asked his friend Bill if he would show her the town. That was Thanksgiving 1967, and four months later, Bill and Jane were married. They remained in New York while Mr. Chaleff finished school and she studied library science at Pratt Institute. Disillusioned with the sudden emphasis on computers in library science, Ms. Chaleff suspended her studies until her son was in school.

Ms. Chaleff was the director of the Rogers Library’s Family Department since 1987, and was thrilled when the library moved into its new home on Windmill Lane, giving the children’s room the space to expand its collection and programming. It is estimated that in the first year after the move, membership tripled at the library.

“She loved her co-workers and looked forward to going to work every day,” Mr. Chaleff said.

“She was a passionate advocate of library books and reading,” said Rogers Memorial Library Director Debra Englehardt. To that end, “she believed we should always have the highest quality collection and she made it a point to reach out to kids in the community. She was determined to expose them to reading,” she added. In spite of the fact that the library is sufficiently staffed to provide readers for story time, it was not unusual for Ms. Chaleff to get down on the floor to read to young audiences.

Her passion extended beyond the library’s children’s room. Along with her husband, she was a founding member of Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, one of the original CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms in the U.S.

A memorial service is planned at Quail Hill Farm on October 25 at a time to be announced. Rogers Library hosted a memorial service last week.

An accomplished birder, she was drawn to anything having to do with nature. Her husband recalled how at one time she travelled a couple of times a week to a grower of heath and heathers, and to learn the Latin names of different kinds of plant material.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her son Ben and his wife Laura Chaleff; and a granddaughter, Sadie, who was born just two weeks before Mrs. Chaleff’s death. She is also survived by a sister, Mary Pacey-Schultz and her family of Carmel, California; a brother, Hugh Pacy of Cincinnati; and her mother-in-law, Lynne Chaleff.

“She was an amazing woman,” said her husband, adding that though she was a woman in her 60s, her work at the library and with children “kept her young.”