Obituary: Linda G. Gordon

Linda G. Gordon, 83 of Newport, RI, died on May 29, 2024, after a short battle with acute myeloid leukemia. She was the wife of the late David S. Gordon, former Newport mayor.

Linda and David moved to Newport from New York City about 40 years ago and immediately embraced the city and the community. Linda was an incredibly private person but relished the dear friendships she had cultivated over the years. A natural artist, she took watercolor classes when she first moved to Newport and painted the most wonderful scenes of various landscapes from throughout the island. (She even tried her hand at croquet and very briefly was a member of the United States Croquet Association!)

Linda will be remembered for her kindness, how graciously she lived, her sense of humor, her elegance, and for all she did for the betterment of Newport, including her involvement with numerous cultural and educational activities. A passionate advocate for the City of Newport, she spearheaded a project to restore Newport’s public statues and successfully chaired the Stanford White Casino Theatre Restoration. Most recently she served on the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Memorial restoration committee and then the newly formed Public Sculpture Commission. She also was recently a board member of Hope Funds for Cancer Research and served on its Development Committee.

A special projects adviser to the Redwood Library and Athenaeum, where she served on many committees, she was a founding member and former vice-chairman of the once-revitalized Newport Cultural Commission, vice-chairman of the board of trustees of the Newport Public Educational Foundation, a member of the steering committee for the Thompson Middle School capital campaign, Campaign coordinator for PellTEC, and volunteered for a literacy program at the old Sullivan School. Linda was a member of the Exhibitions and Collection Committee of the Newport Art Museum and on the museum’s Honorary Advisory Council. For a number of years, she was on the Doris Duke Historic Preservation Awards Celebration Committee of the Newport Restoration Foundation. She formerly was on the board of the old Rhode Island Shakespeare Theater and a member of the Advisory Commission for the Common Burying Ground.

Prior to moving to Newport, she worked in public relations at The Museum of Modern Art, NY, for 16 years, and was director of public relations at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York from 1978 to 1987.

Born in 1940 in Rochester, NY, she was the daughter of the late Betty Hart Bachmann and of Lawrence P. Bachmann of Oxfordshire, England, and of the late Leon H. Goldsmith, Jr. of Rochester. She was the granddaughter of Alfred Hart, a well-respected Rochester philanthropist and founder of the popular Hart’s Food Stores. She was the sister of the late Hart A. Goldsmith of Pittsford, NY. She leaves a daughter, Jessica Gordon Ryan, of Southport, CT, and three grandchildren, Rebecca Hart Ryan, Christopher James Ryan, and Alexander Gordon Ryan who miss her terribly. She attended Skidmore College and l’Ecole du Louvre, Paris.

There will be no funeral or other public event. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hope Funds for Cancer Research, 174 Bellevue Avenue, Suite 208, Newport RI 02840.