Ann M. (Marmon) Mallouk Obituary
Ann Mallouk passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family and friends, at the age of 99 in Greenport, New York, on November 9, 2022. Ann is survived by her children: John, Jeff (and Berta), Jim (and Leslie), and Tom (and Gael), by grandchildren Megan, Kate, Sarah (and Matt), Laura (and Thomas), Amy, and Juliet, and by great-grandchildren Theo, Chloe, Maxi, and Liam. Also close to the family are Ann’s nieces Leslie and Ann, and the Morgan, Haddad, Boulad, Mallouk and Malhame cousins, too numerous to be named individually here but all much beloved. Ann was also the loving mother of Bill, who passed away in 1993.
Ann was born in 1923 in Memphis, Tennessee to Jeff and Naomi Marmon. She grew up in Memphis and attended Sophie Newcomb College until her studies were interrupted by World War II. Ann’s heart was won by her future husband, George Mallouk, who was then a captain in the army and stationed in Memphis. They married in 1945 and moved to New York, where they had a loving marriage until George passed away in 2006. By the time she was 30, Ann was the mother of five boys whom she and George raised in their rambling house on Rockaway Road in Garden City. Ann was the queen of their big Arab-American extended family, learning to make kibbe, laham meshwe, and date cakes with the best of them and welcoming everyone to Garden City and to their summer home in Milford, Pennsylvania. Ann had a special place in her heart for her nieces Ann and Leslie, and nephews John and Paul, who lived with her family in Garden City for a time. She also welcomed many visitors from foreign lands who lived in the house (nicknamed “the hotel” by some of its permanent residents) during their extended visits to the Garden City Community Church.
In addition to her strong faith, Ann had a lifelong commitment to social justice and to advocacy for women. She was a civil and women’s rights activist in the 1960’s and attended the March on Washington in 1963. When her children were grown, she returned to school, earning her B.A. from Hofstra University and then her M.S.W. from Adelphi University. As a social worker, Ann founded the Family Life Center at the Garden City Community Church, where she counseled at-risk families and women. She worked at the Interfaith Nutrition Network in Hempstead to provide help for the hungry and homeless on Long Island. To raise scholarship support for returning women students at Hofstra, Ann and her friend Judith Moyers created a cooking school that was held in her own kitchen in Garden City and involved six well-known Long Island chefs. Ann was a contributor to and supporter of the Pro Arte Symphony at Hofstra. She later became a member of the Board of Trustees of Hofstra, and in 1991 was the first woman elected as Chair of the Board of Trustees. Ann received the George M. Estabrook Distinguished Service Award from Hofstra, and Ann Mallouk Day was proclaimed by Nassau County on March 22, 1987. She was also an ardent supporter of Planned Parenthood, where she received the Beatrice McClintock Award for her service in 1989.
Ann was a thoughtful and generous grandmother, making time to do special things individually (tea at The Plaza, trips to the ballet and the Met, a visit to Congress and the March for Women’s Rights on Capitol Hill, dinner in Paris, a cruise on the Danube, and the bullet train to Kyoto) with her granddaughters. The six girls and their parents gathered frequently at the new summer house in East Hampton, where Ann cajoled George to put in a pool, then build a pool house with a Murphy bed, and finally add a second guest room. Their annual clambakes welcomed their extended family and many friends and included a swimming relay race that somehow always ended in a tie.
Ann cared for George for three years as his health declined. After he passed away, she left Garden City for Peconic Landing in Greenport, NY, where she lived for 14 years. In keeping with her well-established super-human abilities, Ann found that she could compete (and win) in her age group as a long-distance runner. With her yorkie (Ellie), she made many wonderful friends at Peconic Landing, including her traveling partner Scott. Scott and Ann shared many adventures in Florida and Europe, enjoying each other’s company as “runnin’ buddies.”
Ann will be remembered as an extraordinarily strong, confident and compassionate person. A memorial service for Ann will be held at Peconic Landing, 1500 Brecknock Rd., Greenport, NY in the afternoon of Sunday, December 4, followed by a funeral at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn on December 5. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that contributions be made to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, to the Interfaith Nutrition Network (the-inn.org), or to the George and Ann M. Mallouk Scholarship Fund at Hofstra University.
