Barbara Dooneief Haas, March, 1943-August, 2026

Barbara Haas passed away peacefully in her sleep in late August, 2026 after living with metastatic lung cancer for three years.

Barbara was born to Alfred S. Dooneief and Gerti Salz, both physicians. Gerti had emigrated from Plzen, Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazis shortly before her marriage to Alfred. An only child, Barbara spent her early years in Brooklyn and Bedford Hills, NY, where her father was the director of the Montefiore Tuberculosis Sanatorium. She lost her mother at an early age but was comforted by extended family and summers spent at Farm & Wilderness camps in Vermont. In her early teens, Babs went to boarding high school at Cherry Lawn, where she embraced her rebellious spirit and decided that she wanted to pursue acting.

After a year at Emerson College, Barbara returned to NYC, where she began to her theater studies. She enrolled in The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre, where she studied the Meisner technique with Stanford Meisner and Robert Pressman, learned movement from Martha Graham, and found it transformative. After Neighborhood Playhouse, she took a job on campus at Columbia University, decided to take a class at their Extension school, and auditioned for a Columbia Players student-run Shakespeare production. In October 1963, she met Kenneth Haas, a student at Columbia University and the manager of Columbia Players student theater. They fell in love and married less than 5 months later. Ken and Barbara became anchors for one another and lived in NYC, each of them pursuing careers in the arts, she as an actress and he as an arts manager. They were surrounded by a strong community of friends, ideas, music and theatre. They decided to start a family of their own, and had Elizabeth and Amanda, in 1967 and 1969, respectively.

In 1970 Barbara and Ken moved their young family to Cleveland, Ohio, where Ken had accepted a job as the Assistant Manager of the Cleveland Orchestra. Although Babs had trepidation about moving there, she was quickly surprised to find an incredible network of new friends and theater opportunities. The Cleveland years (1970-1987) were creative and productive; Babs flourished there as a stage actress. She had a wealth of acting opportunities, including with the JCC, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, and more, and she cultivated many strong lifelong friendships. In 1987, Ken and Barbara moved the family to Boston, where Ken became managing director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Barbara began to explore theatre there. They divorced several years later, but they remained close friends until Ken’s cardiac arrest and brain injury in 1996 and his eventual death in 2001.

In 1992, Barbara returned to NYC to live the remainder of her life, ultimately settling in North Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She had become a proud member of SAG/AFTRA and the Actors Equity Association. She pursued screenwork and commercial work, landing roles in film and television. She acted for playwright readings and workshops and performed in student and independent films. She became an actor for Standardized Patient work at various medical schools in the greater NY area, playing the roles of older patients for medical students to help train them in patient communication. These experiences were some of her proudest, as she was able to both teach and use her improvisational acting skills. She proudly coined the phrase “geriactress” and took great pride in being able to work up into her early 80’s.

Throughout her life Barbara was a writer and believed strongly in the power of words. She wrote poems, monologues, letters, and words of wisdom that she generously shared with others to provide encouragement, support and love. She was a teacher at heart, with a lifelong drive to guide and inspire others. Many friends have commented on how much her support and words of wisdom helped them during challenging times in their own lives, inspiring them to think more openly and deeply.

Barbara believed in honesty, resilience, authenticity, free choice, art and ideas, ethics, humor and our shared humanity. She had a strong determination to live true to her own principles, and she leaves behind the inspiration and legacy for us all to do the same.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer which had spread to her brain in 2023. She spent her last 3 years fiercely holding onto her independent spirit, her humor, and a deep gratitude for a life well-lived. She relished in her neighborhood strolls, chatting with others and soaking up the Williamsburg waterfront views. She continued to stay connected to so many, while remaining true to herself right up until the end. Her creative streak is present in her daughters Elizabeth and Amanda, and in Sonia, Elijah, Nyla, Obadiah, and Zemira, her grandchildren whom she loved fiercely and in whom she took great pride.

A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held in NYC on March 13, 2027, details to follow.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Barbara’s memory can be made to the Entertainment Community Fund, a human services organization that provides a safety net of supportive services for artists over their lifespan and that was especially helpful to her during her decades of life in New York.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/liz-haas-1