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Leona (Lee) Silton. |
Leona (Lee) Silton, noted artist and philanthropist, died January 31, 2016, at the age of 84, following a two-year battle with cancer.
Silton was born and raised in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and she enjoyed a successful career that spanned more than 30 years. She worked as an artist in her studio in Florida, using music as her principal inspiration. In 1999, she moved to Los Angeles and married Fred Silton. The Siltons were generous donors to UCLA and, with a lifetime gift to the university just six months before Silton’s passing, established the Fred Silton Family Chair in Movement Disorders. Silton conducted an after-school workshop at the Avalon-Carver Community Center in Los Angeles, believing that the arts have the ability to motivate people of all ages and backgrounds to begin to look at the world differently and, by doing so, to start to make a difference in their communities.
She is survived by her husband; daughter Wendy Siegel; son Peter Siegel; grandchildren Josh, Matthew and Kayla; step- children Karen Balin, Debbi Cowan, Sue Silton and Jim Silton; and step-grandchildren Zach, Aevrey, Jeff, Amanda, Rachel and Blake.