Necrology

Susanne Laurie Marcus Collins K'78

Nov. 12, 1956-Jun. 19, 2021

Susanne Laurie Marcus Collins K’78 died unexpectedly on June 19, 2021, in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. Born on Nov. 12, 1956, and raised in North Caldwell, N.J., she came to Kirkland from West Essex High School in North Caldwell and was a member of the last graduating class of Kirkland before its merger with Hamilton. She majored in creative writing. 

Susanne thrived at Kirkland. Using her “secret” recipe, she baked cookies in her dorm kitchen to sell at the student-run McEwen Coffeehouse and loved going to the Clinton Cider Mill in the fall. One of a few first-year students to have a car on campus, a Mercury Cougar, Susanne enjoyed exploring the Oneida County countryside. She remained especially loyal to Kirkland and would eventually help fund projects to preserve its legacy, including supporting the publication of two compendia of writing at Kirkland: Lost Orchard: Prose and Poetry from the Kirkland College Community and Lost Orchard II: Nonfiction from the Kirkland College Community. She also provided support for the Samuel and Natalie Babbitt Kirkland College Scholarship in honor of Kirkland’s beloved president.

After college, Susanne moved to Cambridge, Mass., where she continued to pursue a love of music and the arts. She sang and played acoustic guitar in various coffeehouses and folk festivals, and played the Celtic harp onstage in a production at the renowned American Repertory Theater. Eventually, she turned her talents to music management. For several years, she managed jazz harpist Deborah Henson-Conant, securing a recording contract with GRP (now part of SONY) and producing her 1987 album, Round the Corner. 

In 1994, Susanne attended both the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, and the Edinburgh International Harp Festival. While at the festival, Susanne met Peter Collins, an award-winning sign language interpreter, social worker, and guitarist. Following a whirlwind courtship, and after Peter relocated to the United States, Susanne and Peter were married in Boston in October 1994. Susanne also became stepmother to Peter’s daughter Rachel and son Martin. The couple moved to Atlanta and then Asheville, N.C., as Peter pursued a succession of career opportunities. After the dissolution of their marriage, Susanne returned to Cambridge, where she lived until moving to Manchester-by-the-Sea in the spring of 2021.

Susanne was determined to run her own charitable private-family foundation — The Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation — with a mission to make people’s lives better by combining the performing arts and healing. Programs the foundation has funded include the Celtic Harp Healing Music Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; Cereset’s HIRREM neurotechnology, a therapeutic protocol to treat insomnia, PTSD, and concussions, among other conditions; the Celebrity Series of Boston; the Derek & Romaine Internship Program in New York; music scholarships at Berklee College of Music in Boston; and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Concert Piano Program, among others. 

Most recently, Susanne produced two albums of songs by British folk singer Saskia Griffiths-Moore: Are You Listening? and Where Are We Heading?. 

In the words of her classmate, Jo Pitkin K’78, “Susanne's generous contributions to the two Kirkland anthologies and to the Samuel and Natalie Babbitt Kirkland College Scholarship reflect her love for her college. Without her help and encouragement, the two volumes would not have been published. The fact that Susanne ran her own foundation and supported the performing arts wherever she lived is a testament to her Kirkland years.” 

Susanne L. Marcus Collins is survived by her father, mother, brother, stepbrother, stepdaughter, stepson, and granddaughter. 

— Obituary prepared in collaboration with Jo Pitkin K’78

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