By Albert Amateau
Phoebe Kaylor, a filmmaker, television producer and writer who made her home in the Village for more than 40 years, died in St. Vincent’s Hospital Thurs., Sept 20, at the age of 66.
She was diagnosed with cancer about four years ago, according to her longtime companion, Francis Hartigan, whom she married last June.
Phoebe Fischer was born in New York City to Harry and Anna Zach Fischer. She graduated from Bronx High School of Science, went to the University of Wisconsin, where she took an associate bachelor’s degree in 1962, and moved to the Village soon after graduation.
She married Robert Kaylor, a film director, and co-produced and wrote the feature film “Carny” — a behind-the-scenes look into the dark side of a traveling carnival show. She and Kaylor divorced 19 years ago.
Phoebe Kaylor was one of the founding parents of the Charette School at P.S. 3, on Hudson St. in the Village, where her two daughters and a grandson went to school.
A member of New York Women in Film and Television, she was a co-producer and writer of “Getting Out,” a feature film about ex-offenders with members of The Fortune Society. She was a producer and story editor for Lorimar Telepictures, EMI-TV, Edgar Scherick Associates and David Susskind Productions.
She received a fellowship in writing from the MacDowell Colony and for many years was vice president of television programming at the advertising firm D’Arcy, Masius, Benton and Bowles.
“Phoebe was one of those special people who combined compassion with intelligence, humor and style,” said her husband. “Since her retirement she devoted herself to some of her many passions — photography, baking and actively participating in Habitat for Humanity,” her husband said.
Donations may be made in her memory to Elsa’s Ark, an animal-rescue agency where she was a volunteer. Her daughters, Sarah Kaylor, of Brooklyn, and Robin Devon Kaylor, of San Francisco; three grandchildren, and her stepson and stepdaughter, William and Louisa Hartigan, also survive.
