Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner Of Sag Harbor And New York Dies February 26

Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner of Sag Harbor and New York, vice president emerita of the Estée Lauder Companies, died on February 26. She was 92.

Prior to joining Estée Lauder in 1975, she held management and editorial positions with The Hearst Corporation, Saturday Evening Post and The Chicago Daily News. Wagner received a B.S. Cum Laude from Northwestern University, and was a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School.

She served three terms of a presidential appointment to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, and was the U.S. Chair of Group III (WTO Negotiations) of the Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue for 2000-2001.

The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Wagner was an intrepid advocate for education, especially for organizations that served the communities of Sag Harbor and New York City, where she had homes. She served as secretary of the Board of the Fund for Public Schools under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In 1999, she and her late husband, Paul A. Wagner, formed the pro bono group Nulli Secundus Associates to aid clients from the non-profit world in the development of their strategies for success, providing financial support, mentorship, and inspiration.

The Wagners were also donors to many educational and cultural organizations including The Historic House Trust — Jeanette and Paul Wagner Educational Program for Children with Disabilities, and The New York Society Library Young Writers Awards. They shaped the cultural fabric of Sag Harbor with generous contributions to Bay Street Theater, The Cinema, The Church, Eastville Historical Society, and provided long-term support for the renovation and expansion of John Jermain Memorial Library.

Wagner also underwrote many programs at the library, including the Paul A. Wagner Dialogues, which provide a forum for civil discourse on difficult issues, and the Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner Teen Writing Workshops, a weekly series that pairs teens with professional writers that has run for 12 years without interruption.

Wagner was predeceased by her beloved husband, and survived by family and friends, including a generation of writers who have found their collective voice through her support.