Born September 30, 1955 in Lowville, NY, died September 26, 2017 in Rochester, NY. She is predeceased by her father, Louis Mihalyi; brothers, Mark and Skip. Sue is survived by her beloved partner, Torie Gregory; mother, Bernice Mihalyi; sisters, Sherry (Mike) and Karen (Dik); brother, Dale (Janet); nieces, Cora, Willa, Paige and Dacari (Michael); and nephews, Josh, Tanner and T.J.
Sue studied at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY. Sue worked with and/or helped create many organizations such as: Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Syracuse Community Choir, Sierra Club, Rochester Roots, Politics of Food, Alliance for Democracy, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, Great Lakes United Board and many more. She created her own catering business, Eclectic Café.
Sue was a renaissance woman. Smart, organized and compassionate, she could sing an aria, make a gourmet meal for hundreds, facilitate a meeting, grow beautiful vegetables…and hold it all in a vision for a just world. She believed in recycling, finding good deals and saving things! She used what was available to create beauty. In Sue’s neighborhood, a reclaimed lot became a paradise of flowers, paths, places to sit, all built with reused bricks, discarded plants and found objects. A house, once abandoned, became a lovely home: delicious meals were created from the garden, quilts sewn from found scraps and lost cats found a sanctuary and became family.
Food and music wove through her work and her love for the earth grounded her. We are lucky that she moved among us, the world is a better place because of her.
There will be two services: Sunday October 8th, 3pm at the Glenfield United Methodist Church and Saturday, October 14th, 2 pm at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Sue’s name to the Syracuse Community Choir at 601 Allen St. Syracuse, 13210 or syracusecommunitychoir.org or Sierra Club Rochester Regional Group at P.O. Box10518 Rochester, NY 14610 or http://www.sierraclub.org/atlantic/rochester.
Please bring flowers from your garden or fall decorations or symbols to place on the altar for the service.
My heartfelt condolences. Sue played a very important role in my life for a short period of time and I will never forget her beaming smile, cheerful disposition, commitment to grassroots activism, love of music, and fabulous cooking skills. My love to Torie on this great loss.
Sympathy and love to Sue’s Torrie, and family and friends. I’ve worked with Sue on various events in our faith community over the years — She provided the best lunches, dinners and desserts ever! She will be missed but never forgotten —
Much love to all —
Marie and Peggy
My love to you, Torie. The long process of mourning begins for you and for us, Sue’s friends. We will never be quite the same. The finality of death is so inflexible. But we are also so much richer for the honor of having Sue in our lives. I knew Sue as a friend and fellow member of the extended community for peace and justice in the Rochester area. I loved her sense of humor, her wonderful singing, her cooking. I also knew Sue as a colleague. I was part of the NY Sustainable Agriculture Working Group team that hired Sue to work with Alison Clarke. Alison is an extraordinary visionary and networker, but she needed a practical head to tether her down a bit to deadlines, budgets, and other details of organizational survival. Sue provided all of that. I worked with Sue when she went on to be part of the team for NY Farms! an effort that grew out of a state-wide survey of farmers both organic and conventional that showed that all of them agreed on two things – the need to get more New Yorkers to buy from local farms and the need to save more farms and farmland. Amazingly it took the NY Farm Bureau ten years to get on board with that simple message, and when it did, NY Farms gently bowed out, having fulfilled its mission. And then when the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) needed a person who could write grants, conduct a meeting while taking active part in the discussion and keep track of many moving targets, I hired Sue again. But this time, her illness surged back up and after two years, she had to retire, unable to function at the brilliant level that had been so natural for her before. There has been a big hole in AJP ever since. As an organization dedicated to justice and fairness in the food system, it was very hard for AJP to face the sad reality that Sue had to stop working for us.
I send love and best wishes for the future to Torie and to Sue’s family from everyone at AJP. Building a world of peace and justice will take a bit longer without Sue, but we will get there.
Dear Torie, I am so saddened by the news about your partner’s passing. I know she suffered terribly as did you. My heartfelt sympathy to you. May fond memories sustain you in your time of need. Sincerely, Anita Bloom (Oasis).
Sweet Sue, compassionate Sue and from reading about her, very competent Sue, Torie. I know you will miss her every single day but I hope you will enjoy walking the path she started in the garden and help the cats who continue to surround you.
You know you will always be in my heart, sister Torie! and so will Sue.
Love, Vanessa
My love and condolences to Torie during this difficult time. I can count on one hand how many times my wife and I interacted with Sue, yet she left an indelible imprint on our hearts. He kindness and warmth were so genuine and natural it made it a joy to be around her. Her gift of love and life to all will not be forgotten.
Love, Joe & Rebecca Tomlin and family