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A Renaissance Woman

Janice Ashley was a modern-day Renaissance woman: literary, artistic and skilled in finance, as comfortable on Rollerblades as ordering a meal in a fancy restaurant. She was also outspoken and bubbly, someone who kept her friends from elementary school but relished new experiences, like a trip to Turkey in August.

"She marched to her own tune," said Richard Gallo, a friend she had dated for over five years. "She wouldn't have chicken or beef when she went out to eat ‹ she'd order the antelope steak or ostrich burger."

In a letter of condolence to the Ashley family, another friend recalled how Ms. Ashley was their only high school classmate to compliment her unconventional Sweet 16 party, at a Manhattan comedy club. "She just got things," Risa Lewak said. "There was nothing phony about her."

Ms. Ashley, 25, lived with her mother, father and 18-year-old brother in Rockville Centre, N.Y., and worked as a research associate at Fred Alger Management. She returned home tired from 12-hour days but found time to talk about her dreams, like eventually opening a florist gift shop, said Carol Ashley, her mother. She misses her daughter the most in the evenings. "She just sparkled," Mrs. Ashley said.

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 24, 2001.