Debra Ann Kirsch

DEBBIE KIRSCH - Debra Ann Kirsch died on March 28, 2026, at Ellis Hospital, Schenectady, after a short illness. She was 78. A proudly independent woman devoted to the parish of Saint Vincent de Paul, Albany, in which she was received as a Catholic, Debbie led a life nourished by close friendships, music, books, and faith. Although challenged by scoliosis, Debbie let nothing keep her from pursuing her career nor, in retirement, her passions. Born in Queens to Robert Kirsch, a high school administrator, and Alice Kirsch, Debbie was raised in Bayside, NY in a household that prized education. She was attached to her two siblings, Linda and Jeffrey, who predeceased her. But it was music that lifted her spirits most profoundly. She remembered as a child being taken to Broadway matinees like "South Pacific” and “The King and I.” Later, as a devotee of Brahms, Debbie took up the clarinet, guitar, and choral singing. Attaining a Masters degree in Library Science at the University of Albany, Debbie found a new home upstate where she formed indissoluble bonds through music and worship. Most of Debbie Kirsch’s professional life was spent at the library of Russell Sage College in Troy, New York. Among other administrative responsibilities, she was Head of Reference, promoting the status of campus librarians. She devoured works of science and spirituality as well as of children’s fantasy and adult science fiction. She also indulged in murder mysteries of the tea-cozy variety. In later years Debbie traveled less frequently, but she cheerily remembered trips with her family to the American Southwest, vacations with friends in the Adirondacks, concerts at Tanglewood, and sojourns to the United Kingdom to attend professional conferences. In Oxford she sought out sessions in bell-ringing. In Cambridge, she relished the singing of vespers at King’s College Chapel. And she continued to travel in her mind. Reading about how other people behaved, in worlds real and imagined, kept her moral imagination engaged and her commitment to the needs of others not only vivid but paramount. At the church of Saint Vincent de Paul, Debbie was a member of the choir for fifty years. She also served on the Parish Council. A beloved godmother to a number of young people in the Albany area, she joined in birthday celebrations, Sunday lunches after Mass, picnics and ad-hoc porch concerts where her friends gathered. Perhaps her most salient characteristic will turn out to have been her constancy of affection. Survivors include a cousin, Sandy Rich, in Florida, and many devoted friends who gathered with her in the choir of the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul in Albany, New York. A funeral mass will be scheduled for mid-spring. Donations in Debbie Kirsch’s name can be made to the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul, Albany.

Debra Ann Kirsch

July 7, 1947 - March 28, 2026