Photo: Ms Barbara Slifka, Co-Chair of the Interfaith Center of New York’s Board of Directors from 2013 – 2020, photographed with the organization’s founder, the Very Rev. James Parks Morton
The Interfaith Center of New York is deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of our former Board Co-Chair, friend, and greatest champion: Ms. Barbara Slifka (1929 – 2025).
Barbara has been a dedicated and unflagging supporter of the Interfaith Center of New York since 2006, nine years after her twin brother Alan Slifka made a founding gift to to establish the Center in 1997. Barbara later served as the co-chair of Center’s Board of Directors from 2013 to 2020, making regular transformative donations and involving herself deeply in the annual gala and the programing of the organization and its work to strengthen the civic fabric of the city she called home.
Raised in New York and a proud graduate of the Fieldston School, Barbara went on to become the Fashion Editor of Harper’s Bazaar, a career that took her around the world. An extraordinarily generous New Yorker with a passion for travel and exploration, Barbara Slifka’s philanthropic streams of influence can be felt in the arts, culture, and charities across New York City.
In addition to the Interfaith Center of New York, Barbara was a generous and dedicated supporter of the New York City Ballet, The Big Apple Circus, the Guggenheim Foundation, Guild Hall, Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, SCAN, the Juilliard School, the Nature Conservancy and many more wonderful organizations and causes.
Barbara died quietly on Sunday, June 22 in her 95th year after a brief illness. She was predeceased by her parents, Sylvia and Joseph Slifka, and her brother, Alan Slifka. She will be forever missed, and forever remembered.
If you have a memory of Barbara that you would like to share, we would be grateful to hear from you at info@interfaithcenter.org.
