CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Rosamund “Roz” Stone Zander, a celebrated landscape painter, passionate environmentalist, loving mother, and best-selling author who inspired readers to shift their thinking and live a life of meaning and possibility, died on Sept. 5 on the Maine island of Vinalhaven.

Ms. Zander died suddenly while swimming with her husband, Hansjorg Wyss.

Alternating between winters in Cambridge, Mass. and summers in Maine, Ms. Zander lived a life deeply connected to the natural world and the innate beauty and potential of all living things. From a young age, Ms. Zander was pulled to experience nature through painting. She spent many hours bushwhacking through woods and climbing rocks to find the scene that “spoke to her”. She wrote her first book, The Art of Possibility, while living and working on a tent platform without power on Vinalhaven. The book draws on insights and experiences from her decades spent as a therapist.

Asked about the premise of the book when it was published in 2000, Ms. Zander explained, “the frames our minds create define – and confine – what we perceive to be possible. Every problem, every dilemma, every dead end we find ourselves facing in life, only appears unsolvable inside a particular frame or point of view. Enlarge the box, or create another frame around the data, and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.” In her second book, Pathways to Possibility, Ms. Zander continued to develop these ideas and offer guidance on living a life of continual personal growth, joy, and freedom from the constraints of stories we tell ourselves.

Ms. Zander’s own life of possibility began in Hartford, Conn. on July 2, 1942, born to Gregory Eugene Stone, a lawyer, and Lucy Goodwin Stone. At the age of four, Ms. Zander moved with her mother and her sister, Lucy Morgan Stone, to Cambridge to attend the Shady Hill School and from there went to Milton Academy and Swarthmore College, graduating with a degree in English Literature in 1964. She loved studying Latin, Greek, and literature of all kinds. Until the day she died, she could recite full Yeats and Shakespeare poems and passages of ancient Greek.

Ms. Zander attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City where she met John Bageris, an abstract painter. She and Mr. Bageris married in 1969 and had two children, Alexandra, 52, and Evan, 49. She continued her studies at Bank Street School of Education in New York City, from where she received an MA in Special Education, and Boston University School of Social Work, from where she received an MSS. She then began her career as a therapist.

After divorcing Mr. Bageris, Ms. Zander married Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. Though they eventually separated, the two nurtured a lifelong friendship and collaborated on The Art of Possibility.

While working on her second book, she met Mr. Wyss, a devoted conservationist who made his fortune in medical devices and used it to start a foundation that is directly responsible for preserving over 100 million acres of public land across America, among many other accomplishments. Not long after their first meeting, Mr. Wyss called Ms. Zander and told her he was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and wondered if she wanted to join him. She had little experience mountain climbing, but being a naturally fearless person, she eagerly agreed. It was the first of many adventures the two shared.

Over the past decade, Ms. Zander channeled her love for nature into philanthropy, making generous gifts to dozens of environmental causes through her own foundation, the JP Fletcher Foundation. She served on the board of Climate Reality, a nonprofit group headed by former Vice President Al Gore, who had become a good friend, and recently became the Head of the Accomplishment Program at the World Economic Forum.

Ms. Zander adamantly believed that it is our duty as human beings to combat climate change. Using her expertise in human connection and empowerment, she focused her passion on helping young people see their potential and their ability to meet the climate challenge around the world. She was most excited about her involvement with United People Global’s (UPG) sustainability leadership program on Hurricane Island, Maine. Seeing the potential for a rich collaboration, she brought together Bo Hoppin, the Head of the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership, and Yemi Babington-Ashaye, President of UPG. Their discussion resulted in a partnership that has involved over 1,700 young sustainability leaders from over 120 countries around the world, gathering small groups on an island near Ms. Zander’s home on Vinalhaven. The Leaders stay connected throughout the year as part of a movement that makes it possible for them to share ideas, build strengths, learn together and, most importantly, collaborate on actions to address the most pressing challenges for sustainability, climate change and the environment.

Ms. Zander is survived by her husband, Hansjorg Wyss; her daughter, Alexandra Shor, her son, Evan Bageris; her grandchildren, Jack and Poppy Shor; her sister, Lucy Stone McNeece; and her nephews, Christopher and Timothy McNeece.

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