Lurie Horns Pfeffer passed away unexpectedly on July 15, 2024. She was 73. Lurie was born in Maplewood, New Jersey, with the same independent streak as her mother, Virginia Draper. By the time she was in fifth grade, she was commuting daily to New York City with her father, Frederick Horns, to attend the School of American Ballet. With the support of a Ford Foundation scholarship, she studied with George Balanchine, whose larger-than-life presence made a profound impact on her as a young dancer. She attended the Professional Children's School, eventually moving to New York City at the age of 16, which allowed her to devote more time to studying ballet and being a successful child model—though she missed her older brother Freddy and younger sister Susan. After graduation, she attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she majored in dance and met her husband, Rubin Pfeffer. She then joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater where she performed as a soloist.

After welcoming four children, Lurie's career in show business continued as she joined SeaWorld of San Diego's entertainment team as Show Producer. From there, she found her calling as a stage manager, first at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and ultimately joining Billy Crystal's Tony award-winning 700 Sundays as Production Stage Manager, touring the U.S. and around the world. Other memorable professional accomplishments include working as the Production Stage Manager for the Broadway runs of Play On! and RAIN, as well as numerous shows at the Pasadena Playhouse, the Carolina Ballet, the La Jolla Playhouse and many others. More important than the show credits she added to her resume were the colleagues-turned-lifelong friends that she met along the way.

If you knew Lurie, you knew a woman who was witty, sharp, and silly. She was the person you wanted to lock eyes with across the room when something funny happened. Never one to hold back opinions, she readily made herself available to anyone who needed support or advice. She was quietly generous and thoughtful, exemplifying to her children the importance of treating every person with kindness, whether you knew them or not. She opened her home for any occasion, be it a wedding, a cast party, or a goodbye dinner. She bought coffee for servicemen and women in uniform to thank them for their service. She sent glasses of prosecco to a sweet couple at a nearby table after witnessing their engagement. She gave complimentary show tickets to everyone: her doctor's receptionist, an especially nice bus driver, her kids' childhood friends.

There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for her children, Stephanie, Ian, Rebecca and Vaughn, or her grandchildren, Beatrix, Harrison, Clementine and Elliot. She demonstrated this commitment to her family when she moved to the east coast in 2021 to be closer to them when she was needed the most.

Lurie took every opportunity to remind those around her to practice resilience, be forgiving and – most importantly, to enjoy life. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the very last text message she sent her daughters: "You know crap happens. Just do the best you can and stop judging yourself."

A celebration of life will be held at the Waterstone of Lexington (55 Watertown Street, Lexington MA) on Tuesday, July 30th at 1pm. Should you wish to donate in her memory, please consider SCI Boston (https://sciboston.salsalabs.org/donationpage/index.html), a local nonprofit that provides lifelines for those with spinal cord injuries to which she devoted much of her time.

And when you think of her in the coming months, or even years, take a page from her calling script—and  pay it forward with a small act of kindness.