NEW BEDFORD — Cynthia Smith Maxim (to her many friends, “Cecy”), 75, died at Bedford Gardens hospice in New Bedford, MA, early Thursday morning, March 8, 2018. Her death coincided with a wild Nor’easter that knocked out power to thousands of households in the New Bedford area and dumped several feet of snow over parts of New England. Cecy would have enjoyed the coincidence.
Cecy died of complications following a stroke.
Cecy was the only child of Juliet Lanius Brewer Maxim and her husband, Austin Smith Maxim. In early August1942, Lt. Maxim was killed while serving on the Navy cruiser, USS Quincy, when it was sunk by the Japanese in the Battle of Savo Island at the opening of the Guadalcanal campaign. Cecy was born three weeks later. Cecy’s mother never remarried, and Cecy had no siblings.
Cecy’s mother was the eldest daughter of Basil Brewer, owner and publisher of the New Bedford Standard-Times for many years.
Cecy attended Friends Academy in New Bedford and North Dartmouth. She went to boarding school at Concord Academy and Rosemary Hall; and attended Pine Manor Junior College in Boston; and received her Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She worked in the fundraising department at the Smithsonian Institution before settling in New York City for the next 40 years. She returned to the SouthCoast in 2007 and lived in Dartmouth until her death.
Beginning in the mid-1950s, Cecy’s mother rented a house each summer in Edgartown adjacent to Norton & Easterbrooks Boatyard. The house became a magnet and gathering place for Cecy’s many contemporaries. Cecy was an accomplished sailor and competed regularly in the Edgartown Yacht Club races in her Woodpussy, Hound Dog.
Cecy greatly admired and appreciated the art and culture of Turkey, Syria and the larger Middle East. She traveled there extensively for much of her adult life. She admired Syrian decorative interior panels, in particular. Cecy rescued several from a palace that was being torn down and installed them in her New York apartment to much admiration. Cecy lived for several periods in Bodrum, Turkey, where she supported archaeological digs and the work of the Institute of Nautical Archeology at the Bodrum Museum.
Cecy cared passionately for cats, especially Siamese. She had a tiny trust fund for her two favorites, Irving and Seymour, in case something happened to her while she was abroad. In Turkey, she once adopted a stray cat and named him Renfrew.
On her father’s side Cecy was descended from the Smith family of Eastham and Orleans on Cape Cod. She inherited the Smith homestead there on the death of her paternal grandmother. She lived at the homestead in the summer and fall for several years. Cecy donated part of her ancestral land as a sanctuary to the Orenda Wildlife Trust, of which she was a Patron, in memory of her paternal grandfather, Austin Smith. The Trust is dedicated to the preservation of wild life and open land on Cape Cod.
Cecy will be buried next to her Mother and her uncle, Given Brewer, at the family gravesite in Orleans, MA. All services will be private.
Cecy will be remembered by her friends for her incredible generosity and for her wonderful parties, her rapier wit and her throaty laughter. She spoke an accented form of English somewhat like Katharine Hepburn-it is not often heard these days.
Cecy is survived by two sets of cousins: one, the children of Alice Brewer Steele, second daughter of Basil Brewer. Cecy was particularly fond of her aunt Alice, who taught her to read. Her other cousins, including Margo Brewer Harrison, of Maine, and Nicholas Brewer, of California, were descended from Basil Brewer’s first marriage to Jean Armor Given.
We will miss her.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Cecy’s name to the Humane Society & Shelter SouthCoast, 31 Ventura Drive, North Dartmouth, MA 02747 or the Orenda Wildlife Trust, PO Box 669, West Barnstable, MA 02668.
Arrangements by the Wilson Chapel 479 County St., New Bedford, Ma