Lovejoy Reeves Duryea

Lovejoy Reeves Duryea died peacefully at the age of 79, in West Palm Beach, FL. on the evening of January 9, with family by her side. Born May 7, 1944 in Bronxville, NY to legendary Ad-man Rosser Reeves and his wife Betty-Joy Reeves.

Lovejoy spent her childhood sailing in Larchmont, NY. She attended St. John's College in Annapolis MD, where she would later go on to serve on their Board of Directors and Board of Governors. After graduating with honors, she moved to NYC to follow in her father’s footsteps, working through the ranks as a Senior Copywriter and Creative Manager at Avon Products. Lovejoy received an AAS with honors from the Parsons School of Design and graduated with a Masters in Interior Design from Pratt.

After 20 years of teaching in the Department of Interior Design at the School of Visual arts; a department she founded; she retired to paint and play croquet full time. Lovejoy was known for her flower paintings and watercolors of the East End of Long Island. Her paintings of flowers in oil reflect the strong influence of Robert Palevitz, whom she said taught her how to paint flowers with such detail and nuance that their scent would be evoked from the canvas.

A winner of the Gold Medal from the National Arts Club, she won many awards and her work is featured in over 250 newspapers and magazines. Her paintings are in many private collections, and have been exhibited in various galleries and museums including the Visual Arts Museum of the School of Visual Arts, The United Nations, the Peterson Gallery in Santa Fe, the Grand Gallery at the National Arts Club, and the Fitzgerald Gallery in Westhampton Beach. A maypole she designed was exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

She was a devoted member of many clubs and organizations including, The Century Association, the Beach Club, The National Arts Club, The West Hampton Mallet Club, The Society of the Cincinnati, The Daughters of The Revolution, The Colonial Dames of WPB, The Coffee House, Shinnecock Yacht Clubs and The Quantuck Beach Club.

Lovejoy is predeceased by her husband William Mairs Duryea, II to whom she was married for 46 years. She is survived by two children: Robert Atwell Duryea (Tina Robilotto), David MacShane "Shane" Duryea, her stepchildren, William M. Duryea III (Alliston), Melissa Duryea Lewis (Craig), and eight grandchildren: Olivia and Augusta Lewis, Adian Atwell-Duryea, William, Peter, Andrew, Rosser, and Owen Duryea.

Services will be held at the Royal Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beach on Thursday February 15, at 11 AM.