Margaret Rose Esposito passed away suddenly at her home in Becket, Mass., on September 6, 2024, after a week of celebrating her 83rd birthday with family and friends. She was born in Cirencester, England, in 1941 to Margaret and Stephen Wolf who fled Vienna, Austria, to escape the Nazis in 1938.
Emigrating to Brooklyn, N.Y. as a young girl, Margaret attended Queen of All Saints School and Brooklyn College. It was in Brooklyn where she met her husband, Anthony Esposito and the two began a nearly fifty-year love affair filled with adventure, art, music, food and travel until Tony’s passing in 2007. They raised their children, Sebastian, Livia, and Amelia to enjoy the very best that life in New York City and the Berkshires had to offer. Margaret and Tony raised their family with a deep love of this country and its values of hard work and opportunity. Together in 1981, Margaret and Tony opened Sebastian’s restaurant in South Egremont, Mass., where Margaret prepared innovative, classic dishes and introduced nouvelle cuisine while Tony served martinis and Manhattans to Broadway stars, New York intellectuals and the Berkshire local crowd. Though Margaret never truly stopped working, even opening the popular Sweet & Savoury Bakeries in Stockbridge and Lee in her 70s with her daughter Livia, after selling the restaurant that eventually became known as John Andrew’s, Margaret enjoyed 34 years in her favorite career as Nana to her grandchildren: Margaret Esposito Musche (Jeremy), Brendan Doran, Sebastian, Anthony and Harry Landry, Katie and Jack Esposito, and great granddaughter Charlotte Musche, while living between Brooklyn, Delray Beach, Fla. and Becket, Mass.
Margaret is survived by her children Sebastian (Amy) Esposito of Madison, N.J., Livia (Richard) Landry of Philadelphia, Penn., Amelia Doran of Pittsfield, Mass., seven cherished grandchildren, one great granddaughter, 14 beloved nieces and nephews and dear friend Jeanine Aitken. In addition to her parents and her husband, Margaret was predeceased by her son Justin Esposito and best friend and sister, Renee Wolf Calvin. Margaret will live on through happy memories, her beautiful gardens, delicious recipes, daily New York Times crossword puzzles and nightly episodes of Jeopardy.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, September 21, 2024, at St Mary, Mother of the Church, 140 Main St, Lee, Mass. In lieu of flowers, Margaret’s family requests donations be made in her memory to the Lee Food Pantry c/o St Mary, Mother of the Church in Lee, Mass.
