​Laura Torbet

  Laura Audrey Torbet (nee Robbins), 73, photographer, painter, jewelry maker, graphic designer, writer, ghostwriter, wit, formidable board game and ping pong player, adored friend and sister, died April 11, 2016 at home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, of breast cancer. Known as Lulu to her friends and Lolly to her family, she was born and grew up in New Jersey, and graduated from Glen Ridge High School. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University, she worked in design and writing for Suburban Life Magazine and United Way in New Jersey before moving to New York in 1967 as Art Director for Alitalia Airlines and then striking out on her own as a designer and artist with Laura Torbet Studio. She lived and worked for 25 years in Manhattan; 13 years in San Anselmo, CA; and her most recent and joyful 12 years in San Miguel.

   During her long and varied career as artist, craftsperson, and writer, Laura had numerous shows of her painting and photography, including a major show at the Queretaro Museum of Art; authored or coauthored more than a dozen books, including the 3-volume Encyclopedia of Crafts; and ghostwrote twenty more in the fields of psychology, memoir, and biography. Early in her career her jewelry was carried at Bendels’s, Bergdorf’s, and other department stores, and featured in Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily. Lover of—and loved by—men, she had three marriages, to Bruce Torbet of NYC, Peter Morrison, Esq., of NYC (deceased) and Salaam Habibi (deceased) of San Anselmo, plus short- and long-term relationships too numerous to count. She was an active member of the original Boss Ladies entrepreneur group begun in late 1970s NYC, and of the Living/Dying Project.

    Laura was an inspiration in how to live and die to her multitude of friends and to her siblings Gail Henningsen of Belfast, ME, Glenn Robbins of Glen Ridge, NJ, Jane Robbins of Saunderstown, RI, Barbara, Robbins of Ewing, NJ, and Lisa Robbins of Nutley, NJ. She was the living embodiment, in spirit and action, of her favorite Mary Oliver quote, “Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight,” and she spread that delight everywhere she went, and to everyone she touched. She is irreplaceable.

    For notification of a memorial service or to donate to her physician’s gerontology center in Mexico, please contact robbinsjane@gmail.com.