Ellen (Zetzel) Lambert
Ellen Lambert Obituary
Ellen Zetzel Lambert passed away peacefully on June 18, 2026 at Westchester Medical Center in Westchester, New York. She was 85 years old.
Ellen was born in Boston, Massachusetts and spent her childhood in Cambridge, MA and summers in the Adirondacks Mountains, inspiring a lifelong love of the outdoors. But her truest love from an early age was the English language and the written word.
She graduated from the Windsor School and Bryn Mawr College and earned her Ph. D. in English Language and the Literature from Yale University in 1967, embarking immediately on a career of teaching, first at Sarah Lawrence College and then at Boston University. Seeking a closer connection to the students she taught, she moved to New York City in 1989 where she found her happiest professional footing teaching English at The Dalton School, a role she cherished and in which she remained until her retirement in 2018. In addition to teaching, she published several books, including The Face of Love: Feminism and the Beauty Question, which deeply examined the role of women and women writers in Victorian literature.
Eager to stay close to both literature and teaching she loved in retirement, she led book clubs at the White Plains Public Library and, upon moving to The Knolls in Valhalla, NY, started and ran a weekly poetry group and a reading group focused on Victorian literature.
Despite a career full of honors and degrees, the most celebrated moment of her life was the arrival of her daughter, Ruth Elizabeth Lambert, in 1981, which granted her the title she cherished most...mother. In 1994, she met the love of her life, David. They were married in 1995 and remained devoted to each other until her passing. She was happiest cooking for a crowd, but not as happy as those lucky enough to gather around her table to eat what she had cooked. While she loved food, what mattered most to Ellen was the shared sense of community that a well-cooked meal could bring.
Ellen was predeceased by her parents Louis and Muriel (Bashlow) Zetzel, her sister Judith Zetzel Nathanson, her step-mothers Elizabeth Rosenberg Zetzel and Geraldine Kohlenberg Zetzel and her step-son Kris Buxenbaum. She is survived by her brother James Zetzel, step-sister Teresa Kohlenberg (Tom Goodwillie), step-brother Andrew Kohlenberg (Rebecca Minard), her daughter, Ruth Lambert, granddaughters Kayla Lambert Jones, Maleah Lambert - Johns, Serena Lambert - Johns, Alicia Lambert - Johns, and Olivia Lambert - Johns, her step-daughter Kim Buxenbaum and granddaughter Linez Buxenbaum - Turner, her step-daughter Nina Buxenbaum, granddaughter Scarlett Jones, grandson Sterling Jone, her grandson Kris Alvin Buxenbaum and her nephews Gabriel Nathanson (Alicia Nathanson) and Will Nathanson (Alexandra Caccavella).
In lieu of flowers, Ellen's family would ask that you please consider donating in her memory to:
American Cancer Society
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