Jacqueline "Jacky" Ross Ankeles

Born in Lynn, Massachusetts on August 5, 1947, to Dr. Herbert J. and Beatrice D. Ross, Jacky married Atty. David L. Ankeles on June 14, 1969. Jacky and David spent their life in Peabody where, together, they were a strong and active presence in the community.

Jacky grew up in Marblehead, graduating from Marblehead High School in 1965. At Skidmore College, she graduated with the Class of 1969 with degrees in Music and Drama. At North Shore Community College, she earned an associate’s degree in Nurse Education in 1976.

Jacky’s life was devoted to the performing arts. She was one of the youngest members of the Boston Ballet, performing with the company for several years during the 1960s. She also enjoyed acting in and directing many productions with the Marblehead Little Theatre and other community theater groups, entertaining thousands.

An accomplished classical pianist, Jacky’s love for music led to a 30-year career in broadcasting. Radio was her passion, and her voice became one of the most well-known on local radio, both at Northshore 104.9 WBOQ and WNBP in Newburyport. Her range of musical knowledge and versatility as an announcer afforded her the unusual opportunity to cover three completely different formats: Classical, Jazz, and Classic Rock. She loved sharing music from Mozart to Motown with her listeners and interviewing so many musicians she admired, from Michael Bublé to Wynton Marsalis. Beyond the music, she conducted hundreds of interviews in healthcare, education, politics, and social services for the “North Shore Issues” and “North Shore Now” programs. She loved being on air for her midday shift, announcing music and offering listeners her signature daily trivia questions and recipes. She often said there was never a day when she did not want to go to work.

She also loved to write, and in 2020, she completed and published her novel Notes from the Rock-Chair. The romantic drama was a fictionalized account of her years in the field of dance and performing in the ballet at a young age.

After retiring from radio, Jacky volunteered at Peabody TV, the city’s cable station, where she created and hosted “Fifteen Minutes of Fame,” a program which featured local people with interesting hobbies or unusual accomplishments. Although the program was ultimately short-lived because of Jacky’s cancer diagnosis, one episode won Best Hosting at the Mass Access Creator Awards and first-place for a Profile Talk Show from the Alliance for Community Media for all of New England.

In 2023, she received the coveted Torigian Spirit Award, named for long-time Peabody Mayor Peter Torigian, and given to a person in Peabody who embodies the spirit of public service.

In June of 2024, during a brief hiatus from chemotherapy, Jacky and the team at Peabody TV brought one last project to fruition: a documentary she created and hosted, entitled “Beyond Bingo!” which showcased the Torigian Senior Center, and which Jacky hoped would encourage more people to learn about and benefit from what is available there. The hour-long documentary was premiered in June at the Center before it began its run on Peabody TV and YouTube.

The greatest joy in her life was, unquestionably, being David’s wife, the proud mother of their two sons, Alex and Dan, mother-in-law to their wives, Akemi and Catherine, and grandmother to her three precious grandchildren, Sophie, Sam, and Lucy. She always said she could not have asked for a more beautiful family.

She leaves her devoted and loving husband David, her son Alexander Ankeles and his wife Akemi of Altadena, California; her son Daniel and his wife Dr. Catherine Fredricks of Brunswick, Maine; and her grandchildren Sophie, Sam, and Lucy. She also leaves her sister Judith Ross of Burlington, Massachusetts.

ARRANGEMENTS: Services will be held at Temple Ner Tamid in Peabody at 11AM on Wednesday, August 13, with burial to follow at Maple Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Torigian Senior Center Peabody Council on Aging (https://peabodycoa.org/donate.html) or the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers (https://www.caredimensions.org/care-services/hospice-houses/kaplan-house).