Joanne Koch, pictured in a photo I snapped a decade ago in her downtown apartment, had a monumental (and fundamental) impact on the Film Society of Lincoln Center (now Film at Lincoln Center). On the list of greats who have shaped the nearly 60 year old New York Film Festival, and the more than 50 year old FLC, she’s atop an illustrious roster. Joanne, who sadly passed earlier this week at the age of 92, shaped film culture in our city and our country in essential ways. Born October 7, 1929 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Joanne Koch grew up an only child during the Depression. A self proclaimed ‘movie nut’ in college, as well as a political activist, Joanne heard about a job opening in the film department at MoMA where her career started in 1950 (there she met her second husband, Dick). After a stop at Grove Press, Joanne moved to Lincoln Center in 1971 to lead the nascent Film Society, the organization she ran for 32 years as Executive Director. She remained on the board, and served as Emeritus E.D. until her death this week. When I started at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in November of 2010, I hoped to get to know Joanne better and within days of my arrival I booked a lunch with her and Marian Masone. Her pointed, and always supportive, emails and phone calls these past twelve years, some even recently, have always kept me focused and on track. She was a mentor to many. Please ponder Joanne Koch’s legacy for a moment. She shaped NYFF in immeasurable ways, rescued and then became Publisher of Film Comment early in its life, bringing it to FLC where she remained its most vocal supporter, instigated the creation of New Directors/New Films with MoMA, laid the foundation and then managed the construction of the Walter Reade Theater and hired Richard Peña, produced the annual Chaplin Gala for nearly two decades, and later guided the org on the path building the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center. Incredible. A truly remarkable woman. Condolences and gratitude to Joanne’s daughter Andrea, her stepsons, and all of her family, friends, and colleagues, for sharing her with all of us. A service celebrating of Joanne’s life is already in the works.