Dr. Alexis Elaine Finlay, of North Salem, NY, died on December 15, 2021 after a horseback riding accident. Dr. Finlay, a long time North Salem resident and well-known local ophthalmologist, was the beloved mother of Fiona Finlay-Hunt, Esq. and cherished older sister of John R. Finlay II, Esq. She was 71.
Dr. Finlay was born in Philadelphia on July 15, 1950, to Dr. John R. and Dr. Vera M. Finlay. The family moved to Greenwich, CT in 1953 where her father established an ophthalmology practice and her mother was a pathologist on the staff of the Greenwich Hospital. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart and graduated in 1968 from the Rosemary Hall School in Greenwich. She also attended Vassar College, New College in Sarasota, FL, and the General Studies program of Columbia University. After New College, she joined the Peace Corps and lived on a remote island of the South Pacific nation of Fiji for two years, teaching children English and mathematics. When she returned home, she embarked on a career in medicine and received her medical degree in 1981 from Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia, the alma mater of her parents.
Dr. Finlay served ophthalmology fellowships at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in lower Manhattan and at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore. She joined her father’s ophthalmology practice in Greenwich and practiced in the town for more than thirty years, opening an additional office in Ridgefield, CT. She married Bernard A. Hunt and settled in North Salem, where she was to live the rest of her life.
In 1987, Alexis gave birth to Fiona, the joy of her life. In addition to raising her daughter and running a busy ophthalmology practice, she developed and ran her beloved RiverHorse Farm, a North Salem horse boarding stable, with her second husband, horse veterinarian Matthew Eliott, DVM.
After her retirement, Alexis loved to spend time with Fiona and her friends and family at her second home in Middletown, RI, a former carriage house that she bought and renovated. She would often bring her Icelandic horses up from North Salem and ride them on nearby Second Beach. She enjoyed adventure travel with her partner, Dr. Barrie Soloway of Boca Raton, FL, whom she had known since their days as residents at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. From performing eye surgery, to operating a backhoe at her farm, to hosting line dancing evenings for her friends and horse boarders, Alexis brought keen intelligence, boundless energy and a sense of irreverent fun and adventure to all she did. She was unfailingly kind, generous and loyal to her many friends and family members. At the center of her world was always Fiona, her adored daughter.
She will be greatly missed by Fiona, brother John, partner Barrie and the rest of her family; her friends, former patients, acquaintances, fellow horse lovers; and her horses, cats, and hens. Dr. Finlay’s parents, Dr. John R. Finlay and Dr. Vera M. Finlay, predeceased her. Dr. Finlay is survived by her daughter, Fiona Finlay-Hunt, Esq., and son-in-law, Joshua Tarrant-Windt, Esq., of London, England; her brother, John R. Finlay II, Esq., and sister-in-law, Rita B. St. Germain of Underhill, VT; her nephew, Major Alexander M. Finlay and his wife, Megan Finlay, of Kansas City, MO; and her step daughter, Allison Eliott Fanoe, her husband Scott Fanoe, and their children, Dylan and Shea, all of Arroyo Grande, CA.
A Celebration of Alexis’s life is being planned for July 16, 2022 on her farm in North Salem. Please send expressions of interest, stories, and photographs to rememberingalexisfinlay@gmail.com. In lieu of flowers, donations to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Peace Corps are appreciated.
