Family of Vinod MUBAYI and Joan FELDMAN

Joan Feldman, daughter of Rose Feldman and the late Cyrus Feldman,

died peacefully in Maryland on Sept. 11, 2009, of cancer.

Joan was born in 1943 in Philadelphia, Pa. In 1944, after having been

drafted into the Army and completing his basic training, Cyrus was

sent to Oak Ridge, Tenn., to work on the Manhattan Project because of

his expertise as an analytical chemist. In April of 1945, when the

families of Manhattan Project workers were allowed to come to Oak

Ridge, Rose and Joan rejoined Cy there. Like many of the people sent

to Oak Ridge to work on the Manhattan Project, Cy and his growing

family fell in love with East Tennessee and remained in Oak Ridge for

many years.

While growing up, Joan attended Cedar Hill Elementary School,

Jefferson Junior High School, and Oak Ridge High School; she then went

on to attend Brandeis University in Boston, where she received a

degree in fine arts. It was there that she met her future husband,

Vinod Mubayi. The two married in a traditional Indian wedding in New

Delhi in 1969 and later moved to Bombay, where they lived for several

years.

Having learned Hindi and Bengali before she moved to India, Joan

participated fully in the cultural life of Bombay, attending Indian

classical music programs, watching her favorite Bollywood movies of

the 1940s and 1950s, and writing for leading magazines and newspapers

on a number of cultural topics.

As a young woman, Joan was known not only for her many talents, but

for her beauty, her sharp wit, and her delightful and contagious

laugh. Early in her life, she demonstrated her talent as an artist,

musician, and linguist. As an artist, she was greatly influenced by

the German Expressionist movement, epitomized by the artist Kathe

Kollwitz, and by the cultural icons of the Weimar era such as Bertolt

Brecht in literature and drama; Peter Lorre and Marlene Dietrich in

film; and Kurt Weill and Hans Eisler in music. Her paintings and

drawings were displayed at several art shows in New York City in the

late 1970s and early 1980s, and she also designed several book jackets

for the Oxford University Press while living in India. She was an

accomplished pianist, and played the flute in the Oak Ridge Symphony

Orchestra. She was fluent in Hindi, Bengali, French, and German.

Unfortunately, Joan suffered a mental breakdown in 1973 while she and

her husband were living in India. The couple returned to the U.S. in

late 1974, where Joan struggled with mental health problems for much

of her life. During the decade following her initial breakdown, Joan

periodically recovered well enough to practice her art, but in later

years was unable to do so.

Joan was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, but she refused treatment

despite the urging of her family. Throughout her adult life, but

particularly during her final years, she was loved by all of her

various caregivers for her delightful personality and her mischievous

sense of humor -- traits that stayed with her until the end.

Joan is survived by her child, Suneel of New York; her former husband,

Vinod, who has remained devoted to Joan throughout the years and will

always be a beloved member of the family; her mother, Rose Feldman, of

Boston; brothers, Henry of Boston, Ben of New York, and Robert, of

Tokyo; and her sister, Alice, of Oak Ridge. Her father, Cyrus Feldman,

died in 1990.