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Marjorie Bomart Wallis died on November 26 at Southampton Hospital, just 16 days before her 90th birthday.
Survivors said she lived her life with gusto, enjoying good times, good food and scores of good friends who will miss her friendship, wit, intelligence, laughter and beauty. She was also a compassionate and caring psychotherapist. After graduating from New York’s Hunter College in 1945 and two years later receiving a master’s degree in social work from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, she became a psychiatric social worker. She completed her training at Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in New York City. In the mid-1960s, she opened her own practice, at first working with young people in their late teens to early 20s, and later broadening her reach to adults and many celebrities, including a former Miss America, Bess Myerson, her lifelong friend with whom she attended school and summer camp; and also Gene Wilder, the actor, author and producer. He sent his book “Kiss Me Like a Stranger” to Ms. Wallis with this inscription: “For Margie who helped me to save my happiness. Love Gene.”
Born and raised in New York, she resided in Manhattan most of her life. She was an intrepid traveler who enjoyed her many houses, always shared with various and numerous friends, on Fire Island, Puerto Vallarta and Southampton.
She retired to her Southampton home, where she had once reigned warmly from her snack-laden kitchen table, the radio on, TV blaring, playing cards simultaneously. She could and did it all and always wanted to be where the action was, survivors said. She was passionate about baseball, football and horse racing, and spent hours on end playing backgammon, gin rummy and bridge, all made even more appealing to her with well-placed bets.
Ms. Wallis loved to provoke her friends with witty criticisms, often laced with Yiddish terms and emphasized by her raised eyebrows and shrugged shoulders. It was always done with good humor, and she often was the victim of her own self-criticism. She was upbeat and positive, even when her health was waning. Whenever a visitor asked how she was, her response was always, “Perfect! Couldn’t be better.”
Ms. Wallis is survived by a daughter, Wendie; a sister and brother-in-law, Shirley and Leon Dinitz; a nephew, Charles Schwartz; a niece, Ellen Spiro; and a first cousin, Bernice Furia. She is also survived by caregivers, Karan Flanagan and Elissa Eleazer; and close friend, Sheila Haley. Her ex-husband, Hal Wallis, predeceased her.
A memorial service will be announced.
Memorial donations may be made to ARF, www.arfhamptons.org, or The Assistance Fund in Orlando, Florida, www.theassistancefund.org.
on Dec 8, 2014