Michael A. Varet

SALISBURY — Michael A. Varet passed away at age 77 at home in New York City on May 20, 2019. 

Born on March 9, 1942, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Guster and Frances Varet, Michael was a graduate of Yale Law School ’65, University of Pennsylvania ’62, and Midwood High School ’58.

He served in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1966 to 1972, but in service of his personal convictions was a member of The New York Lawyers Committee to End the War and was elected in 1971 to the Executive Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York as an insurgent running on an Anti-War platform.

Michael was a dedicated alumnus of Yale Law School, serving as Lifetime Board Member of the Yale Law School Fund. He was Board Chair of the Yale Law School Fund (2012 - 2014) and Vice Chair of the Yale Law School Fund Board (2010 - 2012). 

He loved Yale Law School and was deeply engaged in supporting the School, its students, and its clinics. He conceived and underwrote a series of portraits to diversify the School’s collection of paintings of notable professors and alumni, including portraits of Charles A. Reich, James Thomas, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Pauli Murray. He also funded the publication of “The History of Yale Law School” (Yale University Press). 

Michael was an enthusiastic supporter of numerous family philanthropic interests. Additionally, he served on the boards of a number of charitable organizations including as a Founding Director of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, a Trustee of the Jewish Publication Society of America, and a Trustee of Montefiore Medical Center.

For 22 years he served on the Board of Salisbury Bank and Trust Company, as Director (1997 - 2019) and as Chairman (2010 - 2019).

 Michael loved spending time at his farm in Salisbury, mowing with his John Deere tractor, making repairs, and taking long walks. 

He is survived by his beloved and loving wife of 46 years, Elizabeth Rosenwald Varet; his adoring children Joseph Rosenwald Varet and his wife, Esther Kim Varet, Sarah Rosenwald Varet and her husband, Jesse Coleman, and David Rosenwald Varet and his wife, Shelby Varet; by his treasured grandchildren, who gave him great joy, Julius Kim Varet, Jude Varet Coleman, and Zelda Kim Varet; and by his devoted sister Ellen Bock  and her husband, Charles, and her daughter, Lauren Schwartz and her husband, Adam.

Donations in Michael’s memory can be made to the Yale Law School Fund (New Haven), the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc. (New York City), or the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service Inc. (Salisbury). 

The funeral service was held on Thursday, May 23, at Ansche Chesed in New York City.