Gregory Kandel

Gregory Kandel, son of Benjamin and Beverly, was born on April 5, 1948, in Queens, New York. After spending his earliest years in Kew Gardens, Queens, he and his family, which included his younger brother, Richard, and younger sister, Madeline, moved to Long Island—first to Westbury, and then Roslyn. He graduated from Roslyn High School in 1966, where he ran track and played tennis, serving as the number two boy's singles tennis player his senior year. He then attended the University of Michigan, where he played singles tennis his freshman year, graduating with a BA in 1966 and then a Masters in Political Science in 1968. He later attended Northwestern University and received a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in 1974. During high school, college and graduate school, he worked a variety of jobs, which included driving a school bus in Evanston, Illinois, and helping his father at Kandel Equipment Company, a family-owned sanitary and maintenance supply company founded by his father in 1950—and still in operation today (as Kandel & Son). Helping his father during the company's earlier years provided an early demonstration of one of the core principles that guided Greg's life: commitment to family.

Greg's MFA—and the

Chicago area—served as the springboard for his professional career, which was anchored in the performing arts. In 1974, he co-founded the Evanston Theatre Company (now Northlight Theatre), a visionary outcome of his MFA thesis. He was also a co-founder of the League of Chicago Theatres (LOCT) in 1979. Greg and his wife, Louise, returned to the East Coast in 1981 to be closer to family. In 1983, he founded Management Consultants for the Arts (MCA), based in Greenwich, CT. In his nearly four decades at MCA, Greg conducted hundreds of executive searches for both artistic and managementlevel leaders at performing arts organizations throughout the country, and was nationally recognized as an expert in working with Boards of Trustees and leading strategic planning processes. A natural leader, Greg served for years as a faculty member in theatre management at the David

Geffen School of Drama at Yale University while still consulting full-time. Greg's motivation to nurture a younger generation of arts practitioners committed to community-based, financially sustainable, performing arts companies, encapsulated two other foundational principles that undergirded his life: an everlasting commitment to teaching and mentoring, and unwavering selflessness.

It was in Greenwich where Greg's civic commitment was most cemented, including in youth sports, where he coached his sons—Matthew and Daniel—in a variety of sports in the 1990s, also serving for several years as President of the Greenwich Basketball Association. Greg's volunteer service in Greenwich, later also in Maine, included serving as Board President and Board member of Temple Sholom in Greenwich; advisor to the Boards of Portland Stage Company and Temple Bethel in Maine; and participation in Midnight Run, Sunday Dinners at Christ Church, and Meals on Wheels.

While he no longer played competitive tennis as an adult, Greg engaged in sports—often with his wife and sons—including running, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, cycling, golf, hiking and kayaking. As an audience member and spectator, Greg attended cultural events of all types in New York City, especially in theatre, jazz and dance, and he was an avid fan of the New York Rangers, Knicks, Giants and Mets, the latter only supplanting his support for the Dodgers once they left Brooklyn, where as a boy he watched them play at Ebbets Field. A pianist since he was a boy, he continued to play piano into his later years, enjoying solo piano compositions by Philip Glass the most. In more recent years, photography and traveling internationally with his wife became additional hobbies, and they shared fond memories in particular of trips to the Galapagos Islands, Aruba, South Africa and Tanzania.

Afflicted by Alzheimer's in the early 2020s, Greg slowed down but his unmistakably genuine, steadfast commitment to family, teaching, mentoring, selflessness, and community, endured. He passed away on April 18, 2024. His wife Louise, brother Rich, sons Matthew and Daniel, daughters-in-law Jules and Lakshmi, and grandsons Logan, Benjamin, Dylan, Joseph and Richard, will always cherish him. May his memory be a blessing.