Jane Perl, a longtime resident of Cortlandt Manor, died on Sept. 18, 2026, at age 78.
Jane Ellen Friedlander was born in May, 1948, and grew up in Merrick, Long Island, which she hated because it was too flat. She went to music camp during the summers, where she won “Best Dressed.” She went to school in Michigan, but then transferred to NYU where she met John Perl, whom she married in 1971.
They moved from the Bronx, to Ossining, where Alison was born in 1979 and Christopher in 1982; in 1987 they bought the house in Cortlandt Manor where they spent the following 40 years.
Her career started at Société Générale , where she loved using her fluency in French, perfected over a summer exchange program in France during high school. She then moved on to advertising at Grey and Foote Cone & Belding, but spent more than 20 years as an office manager at Westchester Capital Management.
In her downtime she enjoyed country and folk music, practicing calligraphy which she would sometimes turn into beautiful artwork, shopping for clothes and sparkly jewelry, and going on Caribbean cruises with John when possible. After retirement she enjoyed spending time with her kids and grandkids Avery, Joselyn, and Nathaniel, who called her “Sparkly Grandma”
She is predeceased by her sister Julie, and survived by John, Alison, Chris, and her sister Jo.
