Goshen, NH – Virginia “Gigi” Geary Schendler – photographer, forest protector, cherished mother, aunt, grandmother, friend – died January 11, 2026, near her home of more than 60 years in Goshen, New Hampshire.
Born February 8, 1939, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Gigi was the younger child of Ida Virginia Heckscher (McFadden) Geary and Alfred Harrison Geary, and the sister of John White Geary. She graduated from Smith College and New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. Many of her portraits of writers and artists graced the book covers of publishing houses New Directions and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. She also photographed school children, neighbors, friends, and family, and the changing landscapes of Goshen and New York City. With poet/publisher James Laughlin she published Phantoms (Aperture, 1995).
Gigi was married to Sylvan Schendler for 44 years until his death in 2002. Her daughter Virginia Tarin Schendler died in 2018. Loved ones describe a life of deep friendship, wisdom, generosity, her commitment to anti-militarism, and her reverence for the woods. The day before her stroke, Gigi walked three miles in the snow with spikes on her boots for the first time and said “This is so liberating!”
Gigi is survived by her daughter Revan Schendler; her grandson, Benjamin Schendler-Terry, wife Ashley Terry and son Von Isaiah; beloved nieces and nephews, including Bunny Schendler, Rachel Schendler, Marin and Ann Fasano, Armand and Maria Fasano, Daphne Geary; and cousins Morrison and Fenella Heckscher. Many friends / chosen family she had known since childhood, especially Sarah Price, Linn Sage, and Phyllis and Michael Wells, and more recent friends Bea Jillette, Don Filkins, Donnie O’Clair, and Reed Woodhouse, made the last years of her life independent, adventurous, supported and inspiring.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her name to the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, The Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust in New London, or journalist Caitlin Johnstone. A gathering to celebrate her life will take place in the spring.
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