Sydelle Meyer, a transplanted Manhattanite who embraced Palm Beach and helped to grow it into a cultural mecca, died last month at age 97.
The prolific art collector who dedicated much of her life to improving the lives of others passed away Sept. 22 in Palm Beach.
She was known for her collection of brightly colored, thick-framed glasses, radiant smile and generous spirit, her son Bill Meyer said.
“My mother was kind and thoughtful, a reader, and involved, committed,” he said. “She was larger than life. And she lit up the room.”
A funeral held Sept. 26 was done to her specifications: Under no circumstances was anyone to wear black, Bill Meyer said, a nod to the vibrant attire his mother loved throughout her life.
“Her funeral was almost a celebration,” he said. “Everybody wore color.”
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Mrs. Meyer’s colorful life began as Sydelle Fisher on Oct. 7, 1925, in New York’s Manhattan borough. Her father, Phil Fisher, ran a successful retail dress business, and Phil and Diane Fisher placed an emphasis on education, Bill Meyer said.
“They taught me that commitment not only makes the world go around, but that it also makes the ride a lot more interesting,” Mrs. Meyer said in 2003 while accepting the Women of Distinction Award from Palm Beach Atlantic University.
She graduated from the Dalton School before attending Ohio State University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
There are two surprises in that sentence: First, that a New Yorker at that time went to college in the Midwest, Bill Meyer said, noting, “It was very rare.”
Second: Chemistry?
“We never talked chemistry,” her son said, laughing. “In fact, I didn’t even know she studied chemistry until 20 years ago.”
Mrs. Meyer found chemistry of a different kind in 1945 when she met her future husband, Arthur I. Meyer. They married in 1947 and remained together until he died in 2008.
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Though her bachelor’s degree was rooted in science, Mrs. Meyer’s lifelong passion was for the arts. She went on to study art and education, receiving her master’s degree from Sarah Lawrence University. In New York City, she taught while also volunteering as a leader of the American Jewish Congress.
Arthur and Sydelle Meyer have two children: Bill, who lives in Palm Beach, and Gwen Meyer Asarch Satovsky, who lives in Boca Raton. Mrs. Meyer also has four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Arthur Meyer was in the hotel business, an industry into which his children would follow him. The couple began vacationing in Palm Beach in the early 1970s, but moved to the town for seven months each year in 1978 when Bill Meyer moved the headquarters of their hotel company, Servico Inc., from Memphis, Tennessee, to West Palm Beach, Bill Meyer said.
Mrs. Meyer was less than thrilled about the move.
“Kicking and screaming,” Bill Meyer said of her feelings about leaving Manhattan. “She hated it,” he added, noting that at the time, there was no Kravis Center. The arts scene in Palm Beach County was a shadow of what it is today.
“She was leaving Lincoln Center. She was leaving Broadway — for seven months a year,” he said.
She had always been involved in the arts in New York City, and soon after moving for most of each year to Florida, she looked for similar opportunities for involvement in South Florida.
The Meyers raised Bill and Gwen with dinner table discussions focused on values, philanthropy, politics and religion, Bill Meyer said.
“That created what I would call our family values, because of those discussions that took place at dinner,” he said. “There were discussions about money and the role that money should play within the family and within the community.”
Bill Meyer said he feels the entire family’s philanthropy — with the combined forces of Arthur, Sydelle, Bill and Gwen— began in earnest with the Meyers’ involvement in the creation of their eponymous amphitheater on the waterfront in downtown West Palm Beach.
In the early 1990s, an aging Holiday Inn stood where the amphitheater is now. That six-story Holiday Inn was demolished and city officials worked to find a replacement as part of a larger waterfront redevelopment project.
Because the Meyer family was involved in the hotel business, then Mayor Nancy Graham approached the family about making a contribution for the naming rights to the amphitheater, Bill Meyer said. He brought the idea to his parents, and they agreed — if both of their children participated and donated as well.
Altogether, the four Meyers donated $500,000 for the naming rights to the amphitheater, with its 32,000-square-foot lawn.
The Meyer Amphitheatre is named for all four family members, Bill Meyer said.
“For us, there’s a lot of pride,” he said of seeing the family’s name on the structure whenever he’s driving by.
That her legacy is as vast as it is, is a true testament to her perseverance and dedication to philanthropy — particularly following the loss of both of the charitable foundations Arthur and she founded at the hands of Bernie Madoff — the notorious mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history — in 2008.
According to news coverage from the time, it was a particular betrayal for Mrs. Meyer, who saw Madoff as a friend — as many in Palm Beach did. The fallout from Madoff’s $65 billion fraud hit just weeks after Arthur Meyer’s death in 2008.
“It’s all very sad,” Mrs. Meyer told The Palm Beach Post in 2009. “And the saddest part of it is that you can’t trust anybody.”
Despite the tremendous loss of millions of dollars in the foundations, Sydelle Meyer rebuilt the philanthropic empire she had begun with her husband before his death.
She funded scholarship programs through organizations including the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties.
Mrs. Meyer served on the boards of organizations including Ballet Florida, the Cox Science Center and Aquarium, Dreyfoos School of the Arts Foundation, Jewish Federation, Norton Museum of Art and United Way.
Her work in the arts touched nearly every major nonprofit and arts-and-culture program in the county. In addition to financial donations, she and Arthur also loaned or donated major pieces of art. She had a particular love for abstract expressionists, collecting work from artists such as Jackson Pollack and William de Kooning.
At the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Sydelle and Arthur Meyer’s names are on three galleries, a museum spokeswoman said.
“The Norton Museum of Art is deeply fortunate to have been a beneficiary of Sydelle Meyer’s generosity and passion for the arts, and to have counted her as a Trustee for 13 years,” said Ghislain d’Humieres, the museum’s director and chief executive. “We are grateful that her legacy lives on at the Norton through the endowment she created, the galleries she named and the art she gave. She will be truly missed.”
The importance of education imbued in Mrs. Meyer by her parents remained with her. The Meyers were the lead donors for the Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Preparatory School in Palm Beach Gardens. Following her funeral, the students there celebrated Sydelle Meyer’s life with a day of colorful attire, said Richard Cuenca, head of school.
“Everybody loved wearing the bright colors, and we let everyone know why we were doing that,” he said. “That resonates a lot with young people and adolescents. Let’s celebrate life, let’s celebrate with bright colors. Let’s celebrate joy and happiness. They were all in.”
The school celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and Cuenca said part of that celebration will honor the school’s founders.
“We want to continue to make the family proud and continue to serve the incredible legacy,” Cuenca said. “Arthur and Sydelle left an indelible impact on the community that will live on through the hearts and minds of Meyer students for generations to come.”
The Meyers had the foresight to recognize the importance of creating connections between future generations and their Jewish heritage, Cuenca said.
“Laying the foundation of their connection to their Jewish roots is essential for a community, the vibrancy of the community, for the growth of the community,” he said. “Because of that, we have alumni throughout the country and they are taking those values about making this world a better place with them, that they’ve learned as graduates of our school. And that’s because of Sydelle and Arthur’s vision to prioritize the next generations.”
At the Dreyfoos School of the Arts, the campus’ 600-seat theater bears the name Meyer Hall in Arthur and Sydelle’s honor.
“They very much wanted to support that,” Bill Meyer said. “I’m very proud of the legacy, because I think philanthropy is learned. I don’t think you just wake up one day and you’re a philanthropist.”
Mrs. Meyer was “one of the grand figures of Palm Beach,” Congresswoman Lois Frankel, a longtime friend of the Meyers, said. “She brightened every room with her larger-than-life personality. And most importantly, her generosity, and that of her family, continues to lift the lives of the people of our community. I was blessed to know her and call her a friend.”
Mrs. Meyer had a reputation as a woman of humility and grace.
When Palm Beach Atlantic named her a Woman of Distinction in 2003, she expressed disbelief at the recognition.
“When I was little, I was Diane and Phil Fisher’s daughter,” Mrs. Meyer said at the time. “Then I was Arthur Meyer’s wife. Then I was Bill and Gail’s mother. Then I was ‘Nan’ to my grandchildren. Today I don’t belong to anybody. This is my day. I’ve never had a day like this, ever.”
In that speech, she also left a lasting piece of advice:
“The best use of life is to invest in something that will outlast life,” she said.
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