Remembering Janet
With Janet Kane’s passing, Sarasota has lost an icon—and a friend.
Stanley and Janet Kane
I always considered Janet Kane my best friend among the older, monied set in Sarasota, but I bet a lot of other people did, too. She had a talent for intense friendships, particularly with artists and writers. She felt that what they did was special, much more special than merely making money. And of course they did, too. So they were amazed and flattered by her perceptiveness.
Janet and her husband Stanley, now 89, personified Sarasota at its millennial peak. They, like the city, were glamorous, rich, sophisticated, generous, art-loving, and smart. That they each had a kind heart made them, arguably, perfect. Everyone loved the Kanes. Although I must say I once got so mad at Janet I didn’t speak to her for a year.
Janet was a small woman with blond hair swept away from her face. She had a sexy streak that never left her and late in her life developed a taste for gowns that showed off her décolleté. Alone among Sarasota grande dames she wore glasses, though hers were usually tinted some becoming color. She was very tactile and often held your hand. Sometimes she would caress your cheek.
The Kanes lived the sort of lifestyle that wealthy people lived in the olden days, with a staff to run their several homes (a lavish house on Siesta Key overlooking the city skyline, and an even more fabled estate on Martha’s Vineyard). An invitation from the Kanes was something to strive for, and though Janet entertained beautifully, she didn’t obsess about it. I remember at one of her parties the air-conditioning went out. I thought she’d be furious. Instead she found the sight of everybody sweating hilarious.
And while she spared no expense, she still had her own small economies. One year at her famous Oscar party – 300 of the town’s elite, dressed to the nines – she asked for the prizes back. (They were Oscar statuettes.) “Frankly, they were rather pricey. And I can use them again next year.”
Janet was lucky to have Stanley as a husband – for 61 years. He indulged her and pampered her and protected her. When she had her stroke (two years ago at Caragiulo’s, after viewing the holiday Boat Parade), she called for Stanley, begging him to explain what was happening.
Sadly, ill health was the one thing Stanley couldn’t protect her from. She got better for a while and started going out a little. But a certain fragility remained. Her life became simpler, centered around her home. It was not unpleasant. Her death notice in the Herald-Tribune, written by her daughters, describes it in detail. She had her orchids and what sounds like some very good food. The dinner she ate the evening before she passed away is even described: “Grey sole, zucchini seasoned with cinnamon, and roasted potatoes.”
I’ll leave her good deeds to be memorialized by the Y and the Asolo Rep and the other organizations she supported. For me it’s the end of an era. The lifestyle the Kanes lived with such aplomb is almost gone now. They provided us here at Sarasota Magazine with a template on gracious living. They were both the perfect reader and the perfect subject matter. Our heartfelt condolences to Stanley, their three daughters, and all the grandchildren.
My fight with Janet? It concerned our dogs. We were both pug lovers, and we each loved our pug a little too much. I thought hers was a spoiled, effete thoroughbred while she considered mine a little common, a little thick in the neck and haunches. Try as I might, I couldn’t get her to repudiate her pug. For a year I stayed away from her, out of spite. Now I wish I had that year back.
Syndicate this site