The life and work partner of famed photographer Yousuf Karsh recently passed away at age 95 in Boston, leaving a legacy of wit, charm and philanthropy.
In addition to her endless talents and sharp mind, Estrellita Karsh was driven to make the world a warmer and healthier place for children.
While the iconic portrait photography of Yousuf Karsh hangs inside the National Gallery and many of the great museums and art houses around the globe, it’s no accident that the largest permanent collection of her late husband’s art adorns the corridor walls of a busy emergency department wing at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
The 50 striking photos, featuring some of the most celebrated doctors, scientists, entertainers, thinkers and artists — including Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Muhammad Ali, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright and Andy Warhol and Winston Churchill — were gifted by Estrellita Karsh.
“She recognized, like many of us, that CHEO is the most important institution in the city,” said Fred Bartlett, former president and CEO of the CHEO Foundation. “She was a wonderful woman. Very intelligent, very well-read, very much aware of everything in the medical field and very caring for children.”
Estrellita, born as Estelle Nachbar, recently passed away of natural causes at the age of 95 in Boston, leaving behind a profound legacy of wit, charm and philanthropy.
She will be interred in a private burial at Ottawa’s Notre-Dame Cemetery, where Yousuf Karsh was buried following his death in 2002.
Estrellita was born in New Jersey and graduated from Antioch College in Ohio with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1952.
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A medical writer with a gift for breaking down complex ideas, she met Yousef during a photo shoot for physician Dr. Walter Alvarez in Chicago. A clever writer for Newsweek later wrote, “something else clicked beside the shutter.”
Yousuf’s first wife, Solange, had died of cancer in 1961.
Esterellita and Yousuf were married in 1962 and became life and work partners, working in and out of Ottawa for almost four decades.
They lived in their “Little Wings” home along the Ottawa River before moving into the Château Laurier hotel, which also housed Yousuf’s portrait studio, from 1982 until 1998.
Dodging the worst of Ottawa’s winters for health reasons, they then moved to Boston, but Estrellita’s connection to the nation’s capital never ended.
The couple had no children of their own, but children were always close to her heart. In addition to the portraits, she endowed the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Department of Emergency Medicine at CHEO, allowing for an exchange of research and visits from leading expert pediatricians between children’s hospitals in Ottawa and Boston.
“It was nice for me. I would walk with the children and they would ask, ‘Who is that?’ when looking at the portraits,” Bartlett said. “It was explaining someone’s life and history. It was very educational for the children. And, when she came to CHEO, she would talk to the researchers.”
The giving went on south of the Canada-U.S. border, as well. At Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Estrellita endowed the Karsh Visiting Scholar Nurse Program and the Nora Donnelly Excellence in Nursing Award.
“She loved people, she was sincerely interested in people,” said Jerry Fielder, whose 46-year association with the couple began when he was hired as Yousuf’s photo assistant in 1979. “I saw it first-hand, how kind and thoughtful she was to everyone.”
Fielder became a curator and archivist for Yousuf’s collections, organizing exhibitions around the world. Upon Yousuf’s death, he became director of the estate.
He said the relationship between Estrellita and Yousuf was the ultimate partnership, understanding and recognizing each other’s strengths, whether they were in Ottawa or travelling to projects around the world.
“She was very organized. Yousuf wasn’t,” Fielder said. “He was an artist, focused on his work. As for the details of travel and arrangements, she was great at that. They had a great personal relationship. It gave him the freedom to concentrate on his work.”
Estrellita remained humble through it all, according to Deneen Perrin, longtime director of media, marketing and partnerships at the Château Laurier.
“She was elegant and eloquent, but she could also be down to earth,” said Perrin, now director of public affairs and government relations at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa. “My favourite thing about her and Mr. Karsh is that it didn’t matter if you were the housekeeper or the president of a company. They spoke to you with the same level of respect.”
Perrin said Estrellita actually stopped and listened when children were speaking, genuinely interested in their interests and goals.
“She was ahead of her time in terms of what kind of woman she was. (Estrellita and Yousuf) complemented each other,” Perrin said. “She leaves a very important legacy. She was really involved, really wanted to make a difference.”
Right to the end, she was engaged, staying on top of the story about the theft and eventual recovery of the Roaring Lion — Yousuf’s signature portrait of Winston Churchill — from the Château Laurier.
The photo, replaced by a fake, was missing for almost three years.
“We live only a 15-minute walk apart (in Boston),” said Fielder, who took part in the trial of the thief via Zoom. “She knew everything about the theft. The Ottawa police did an incredible job (chasing information) for a couple of years, leading to the remarkable conclusion.”
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