Loti Falk Gaffney

Loti Falk Gaffney (December 21, 1920 - October 13, 2015) was an art philanthropist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Falk Gaffney was involved in the founding of several arts and cultural institutions in the Pittsburgh area, most notably the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

Early life Loti Grunberg was born in Istanbul, Turkey lived in Milan and St. Moritz while a teenager, and briefly studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris. Her family moved to New York City in 1939 and she studied at Columbia University. During World War II, she married U.S. Army Lt. Michael A. Gerard, and had two sons, Robert and Peter.

Loti joined the board of the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1963 shortly after moving to Pittsburgh, and helped the Pittsburgh Playhouse avoid financial collapse in 1966. The Pittsburgh Playhouse became a successful community theater for many years.

By the mid-1960s the Pittsburgh Playhouse was in crisis. After a failed move to a professional theater company with the American Conservatory Theater, attendance and subscriptions had dropped off significantly and the ambitious seasons had increased expenses and driven away corporate support, leaving the Playhouse in a tenuous financial position by December 1966. Loti Falk and Theodore Hazlett Jr. led a successful emergency effort to raise $300,000 in order for the 1966-1967 Playhouse season to continue. Petrov founded the dance department at Point Park College in 1968 and launched the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Petrov recruited Falk Gaffney to be president of the Board. When Mr. Gaffney died in November 2001, Falk Gaffney returned to New York.

Falk Gaffney died on October 13, 2015, in her New York City apartment of natural causes.