Crys Gartner, 72, antiques dealer

Crys Gartner, an antiques dealer specializing in fine china and porcelain, died on Wednesday, March 27, at her home in Ridgefield. She was 72.
Over a career beginning in the mid-70s, Ms. Gartner became a well-known and much loved figure in the antiques community of Westchester and Fairfield counties. She exhibited at the better antiques shows along the East Coast, including the Baltimore show and the Pier Show in New York City. She named her business “Perennials.” Many of her customers became longtime friends.
She also often bought from and sold to other antiques dealers. One such dealer-friend, Roberta Hopkins, formerly owner of the “Beyond Expression” shop in Bedford Hills, recalled, “She was my mentor, and one of the brightest and most honest antiques dealers I’ve ever come across.”
In more recent years, she also ran estate sales in Westchester and Connecticut with a partner, John Baremore. This business was called “Castle-to-Cottage.”
Ms. Gartner was born Sylvia Crystal on Nov. 6, 1929 to parents who had emigrated from Russia (the name by which she was known, “Crys,” was an abbreviation of her maiden name). She grew up in Union City, N.J., where she was valedictorian of her high school class. She graduated from New York University, majoring in English.
Beginning in 1965, Ms. Gartner lived in Bedford for three years, Waccabuc for 12 years, and Ridgefield for 21 years. She was active in the Bedford-Lewisboro League of Women Voters, serving for one term as president; she served as a leader of a troop of the Bedford Girl Scouts; and for several years she wrote the “Lewisboro” column for the Patent Trader newspaper.
“My mother always felt that her major achievement in life was her children,” said Matthew Gartner. “My sister is now a public interest lawyer in New York; my brother is a partner in an architecture firm in Colorado; and I am an English professor in the City University of New York system.”
She leaves her three children, Eve Gartner of Brooklyn; Matthew Gartner of Manhattan; Daniel Gartner of Grand Junction, Colo.; and six grandchildren.
Rabbi Jon Haddon conducted services Sunday, March 31, at Temple Shearith Israel.
Gifts in the memory of Crys Gartner may be made to the National Breast Cancer Coalition, 1707 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20036.