This is part of a series of stories on Western New Yorkers who have died from Covid-19. Read more at "Profiles of a Pandemic."
Annette Masling, former head librarian at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, was the first one in her downtown Buffalo home to contract Covid-19 in December.
Then, not long after she was admitted to Buffalo General Medical Center, the virus struck her husband, Dr. Joseph Masling, a University at Buffalo professor emeritus and a pioneering researcher in Freudian psychology.
“They were both in the hospital together,” their daughter, Susan Rubel, told Buffalo News reporter Harold McNeil earlier this month. “Buffalo General was wonderful. They put them in a room together for almost two weeks. ... They spent every minute together. He sat there in a chair, holding her hand.”
She died Jan. 15 at the age of 91. Her husband, who was 97, died Dec. 29.
Born Annette Chernoff in Philadelphia, Masling was attending Temple University when she met her husband, who was doing post-doctoral research.
They were married in 1953.
They first lived in Syracuse, where Joseph Masling taught psychology at Syracuse University. Then, after a year in Israel while her husband worked at Hebrew University in Jerusalem under a Fulbright fellowship, they came to Buffalo in 1965 when he joined the UB faculty.
While raising two children, Masling earned a master’s degree in library science from UB and served as head librarian at the Albright-Knox from 1973 to 1989.
She had a passion for literature, art, music and travel and could recite poetry from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash from memory, her daughter said.
An avid reader, she audited college classes online and enjoyed gardening.
Masling was a gourmet cook and had an eye for bargain fashions, her daughter added. She cut her own hair and her husband’s for more than 50 years.
In addition to her daughter, survivors include a son, Mark, and four grandchildren.
A memorial service may be held at a later date.
The Buffalo News is publishing stories about people from Buffalo Niagara who have died due to Covid-19. Please contact The News at citydesk@buffnews.com if you know of someone whose story we should tell.
