Roberta Prescott, 85, died on December 13, 2022 at the Caleb Hitchcock Health Center/Duncaster in Bloomfield, CT. Roberta was preceded in death by her life partner, Robert Hurwitz and by her eldest daughter, Jennifer Prescott (Sean Dooley). Roberta is survived by her children Laura Prescott (Adam Robinson) of Washington, D.C. and Emily Prescott of San Francisco, CA; by her grandchildren Rachel Dooley, Emma Dooley, Edward Robinson, and Sara Robinson; and by her sister Linda (Harold) Gassenheimer of Miami, FL, and their children and grandchildren.
Roberta was a lifelong resident of West Hartford, CT with a successful career as a strategic communications consultant. After building and running her company at a time when building a business was challenging for women, she then paid it forward through coaching women emerging from welfare. Roberta was an authority on communication, and was honored by the Hartford Business Journal as one of eight “Remarkable Women in Business,” as well as more recently being honored as one of “60 over 60” by Duncaster.
Retirement was not for Roberta, and she recently completed a two-year term as the President of the Connecticut chapter of the International Women’s Forum, an invitation-only women’s leadership organization with 6,800 members in 40 countries. She gave back to greater Hartford through her work as the former Chairman of the Board of the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau, and her present and past Board Directorships at St. Francis Hospital, TheaterWorks, Metro Hartford Chamber of Commerce, and Chair of the Women Executives Committee.
One of Roberta’s greatest loves was the theater. Whether through her support to regional theater around Connecticut, to the Hartford Stage, or her nearest-and-dearest TheaterWorks where she was still an active Board member after decades of support, or whether as a member of the audience, acting, directing or helping to manage a theater company, nothing brought Roberta more joy than her love of acting and theater.
There will be a graveside service on Sunday, December 18, 2022 at 12:15 P.M., at Beth El Cemetery, 51 Jackson St., Avon, CT. https://www.bethelwesthartford.org/directions-cemetery. Directly following will be a brief memorial and visitation hours from 1:00 – 3:30 P.M. at Beth El Temple in the Community Room, 2626 Albany Ave., West Hartford, CT. https://www.bethelwesthartford.org/about-us/directions