he Portrait Institute is eternally grateful to Dorothy Gay Juergens for her faithful and devoted volunteer service over a period of more than 30 years. Gay died on June 12, 2007, at the age of 71.

Gay Juergens was an outstanding artist. She received her training privately under the renowned portrait artist Molly Guion, and at the Art Students League of New York with David Leffel and Sherrie McGraw. Gay was a gifted and widely admired professional painter of portraits, but her work included both still life and landscape – in both of which areas she was extremely proficient.

Gay was a member of the Coast Guard Art Program, the American Society of Portrait Artists, and was a board member of the Hudson Valley Art Association. She was active in a leadership role in each of these organizations, and participated in the annual exhibition of the Hudson Valley Association just days prior to her death.

The Portrait Institute will remain forever indebted to Gay for her tireless and enthusiastic volunteer service in countless workshops, seminars, and other events over a period that covered more than three decades.

Although Gay was aware of her high standing in the art community, she always considered her greatest accomplishment to be her seven children, to whom she was a devoted and beloved mother. She is survived by Jim, Jennifer, Julie, Dede, John, Bob and Charlie. She also cherished her grandchildren Claire, Pierce and Steven, and her daughters-in-law Joan and Jennifer.

Gay was born and raised in New Rochelle, graduated from Manhattanville College in 1957 and married James Juergens of New Rochelle in 1958. She was a resident of Larchmont for over 40 years. Gay was a faithful parishioner of the Church of Saint John and Saint Paul in Larchmont.

We will forever remember Gay as a woman of beauty, grace and great dignity. Her life was characterized by her boundless love and concern for everyone she knew. She will be profoundly missed.