Miriam Gargill Braverman

Miriam Gargill Braverman (“Mimi”) was born in Boston, MA, to Dr. Samuel Gargill and Eileen (Goodman) Gargill in 1932. She passed away on January 5, 2026, at her home in Boston.

Mimi graduated from Arlington High School, and received her B.A. from Vassar College in Physiology in 1953. She remained a devoted Vassar alumna, serving as president of her class and in other capacities during her long association with the college. In her senior year at Vassar, she met her future husband, Dr. Lewis E. Braverman through a Vassar college friend, who ended up marrying Lew’s roommate at Johns Hopkins medical school. After living in Baltimore for two years, Mimi and Lew moved to Metz, France, when Lew was stationed there as part of his army service. Mimi worked for a French medical researcher in a laboratory in France during her time abroad, traveled widely in Europe, and gave birth to her first son, Dan, in 1958, before returning to the United States.

She settled in Newton, MA, and had her second son, Bill, in 1960. Mimi’s second career began in the mid-1960s, when she began her long association with Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. She began as a gallery instructor, leading school groups and other visitors to the Museum. She also worked in the classical department, and later became one of the leaders of the education department. Her knowledge of art was broad and deep, and she was a true expert in all periods and styles of art. During her time at the Museum, she also served as a teaching assistant at Harvard College, a tour guide at Boston’s Isabela Stewart Gardner Museum, and led groups to the Sargent House Museum in Gloucester, MA. Her “Looking Together” program at the MFA was over-subscribed, and was repeated for several years. Mimi’s enthusiasm for art was contagious, and she was always eager to reach new audiences. She was a sought-after lecturer, and was a frequent guest at Carleton-Willard Village. An avid traveler, Mimi also lead tour groups to India, and was an inexhaustible museum visitor.

Mimi spent summers in her family home in Gloucester, MA, where she exhibited great knowledge and skill in gardening. It was there too that she spent time with her beloved grandchildren, Anna, James, Eve, Kate, and Sasha. Long days on the beach, crab-hunting in the shallows with the children, family meals around the Lazy Susan, were Mimi’s specialties. A tireless host, Mimi not only catered to her children and grandchildren, but also was a second family member for the countless foreign doctors who studied with Lew during his long career as a professor of medicine and expert on the thyroid gland.

Mimi leaves behind her sons Dan and Bill, her daughters-in-law Sara McLeod and Ina Poljak, and her grandchildren Anna, James, Eve, Kate, and Sasha.

Services for Mimi will be held privately.