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JANICE ASHLEY: A Renaissance Woman

 

Janice Ashley was a modern-day Renaissance woman: literary, artistic and skilled in finance, as comfortable on Rollerblades as ordering a meal in a fancy restaurant. She was also outspoken and bubbly, someone who kept her friends from elementary school but relished new experiences, like a trip to Turkey in August.

"She marched to her own tune," said Richard Gallo, a friend she had dated for over five years. "She wouldn't have chicken or beef when she went out to eat --she'd order the antelope steak or ostrich burger."

In a letter of condolence to the Ashley family, another friend recalled how Ms. Ashley was their only high school classmate to compliment her unconventional Sweet 16 party, at a Manhattan comedy club. "She just got things," Risa Lewak said. "There was nothing phony about her."

Ms. Ashley, 25, lived with her mother, father and 18-year-old brother in Rockville Centre, N.Y., and worked as a research associate at Fred Alger Management. She returned home tired from 12-hour days but found time to talk about her dreams, like eventually opening a florist gift shop, said Carol Ashley, her mother. She misses her daughter the most in the evenings. "She just sparkled," Mrs. Ashley said.

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times