Former Quogue Resident Natalie Rees Dead At 85

Natalie B. Rees

Natalie Bowes Rees, a former resident of Quogue and Manhattan, died at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Friday, May 18, following a short illness. She was 85.

Ms. Rees was born on June 25, 1926, in Utica. She lived in Short Hills, New Jersey, during her high school years and later studied art at Bennington College in Vermont and The Art Students League of New York in Manhattan.

She married Thomas D. Rees in 1949 and later joined the fledgling Ford Models, which grew to become one of the most famous modeling agencies in the world, while her husband was training for and launching his career in plastic surgery. In 1957, she helped her husband co-found the Flying Doctors of East Africa, a division of what is now the Nairobi-based African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Africa’s largest non-governmental health development organization.

Survivors said Ms. Rees was a tireless fundraiser for AMREF and, in the 1970s, served on the Women’s Committee of the American Museum of Natural History. Also, she was a docent in the museum’s Akeley Hall of African Mammals.

Ms. Rees was a talented amateur artist and an avid birder, gardener, fly-fisher and reader. She and her husband traveled extensively, including making annual trips to Africa during which Dr. Rees worked with the Flying Doctors.

The couple retired to Santa Fe 22 years ago.

In addition to her husband of 63 years, Ms. Rees is survived by her two children, Thomas Jr. of Los Angeles and Elizabeth of New York City; and a brother, C.V. “Major” Bowes of Big Moose, New York.

There are no plans for a public memorial service, as per Ms. Rees’s wishes, according to survivors.

In lieu of flowers, donations made to AMREF USA, 4 West 43rd Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10036, would be appreciated by the family.