Saying Goodbye to Lisl Steiner
Lisl Steiner enjoyed a personal relationship with history. As a photojournalist, she documented some of the most notable people and moments of her time. Sadly, her time with us ended earlier this month when she died at the age of 95. Most would agree that Lisl was a community icon in Pound Ridge. Never satisfied as a mere observer, she insisted on civic participation. She spoke up, elbowed in, and raised awareness of important issues. We are sad to say goodbye to Lisl; she was a friend, supporter, and volunteer at the Pound Ridge Historical Society. Books could be written about Lisl’s life, but we provide a short summary below.
Lisl Steiner was born in Vienna in 1927. When she was eleven years old, Hitler annexed Austria and her family moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was here, while working in the documentary film industry, where she first learned photography. She had an eye for the moment and at 30 years old her first photograph was published. It was an image of Argentine President Pedro Eugenio Aramburu fishing by a stream. The image appeared in Time and Life Magazine.
Lisl worked for the Brazilian magazine O Cruzeiro before moving to New York City and working as a freelance photographer. She worked for Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, Associated Press, and other international magazines. Her photographs covered a variety of subjects but she was well known for her images of cultural and political figures. These included: Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Carter, General Augusto Pinochet, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and many more. In addition to her photography, she was a documentary filmmaker, writer, artist, and local volunteer.
Lisl and her husband, psychiatrist Meyer Monchek, settled in Pound Ridge in 1970. Monchek died in 1992 and Lisl continued to live in Pound Ridge, as involved as ever, until her death earlier this month.