DeLacy Ann Phinizy Brubaker Sarantos, 91, died peacefully on Jan. 7, 2026 in Oak Park. Born on Oct. 24, 1934 in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) to Frank H. Phinizy and Ellen H. Trull, she lived an exceptional life full of inquiry, adventure, friends, theater, art, and globe-spanning travel. She served as executive director of the Oasis Center for Human Potential from its inception in 1968 until its closing in 1997, where she introduced such influential thinkers as Alan Watts, Virginia Satir, Joseph Campbell, Jean Houston and countless others to a Chicago audience. She later served as foreign rights manager for Quest Books (Theosophical Society Publishing) and volunteered for decades at organizations that were important to her, including as a docent for the Art Institute of Chicago, a tour guide at both the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio and Pleasant Home, a sales associate at Ten Thousand Villages, and for innumerable causes helping the underserved and marginalized.
A lifelong dancer, she studied and performed Spanish dance, Indian dance (Bharatanatyam and Kathak) and Hula well into her 80s. A lifelong learner, she earned a BA from the College of Wooster, an MA in English from Columbia University, an MBA from Rosary College (now Dominican U.), and an Master of Education from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She was a member of Grace Episcopal Church of Oak Park and the women’s philanthropic educational organization, P.E.O. International.
She was a force of nature: elegant, eclectic, joyful, passionate, compassionate and deeply authentic, loving life with indomitable energy, openness of spirit and a remarkable ability to laugh at herself. A deep listener, she cherished and nurtured her roles as mother, grandmother, sister and friend.
DeLacy is survived by her children, Kevin L. Brubaker (Debbie) and Raïna E. Brubaker (Jessica Hough); her grandchildren, Lindsay, Liam, Ashton and Wesley; her stepchildren, Cricket Brookfield (Lance) and Kate Sarantos; and her sister Donna I. Phinizy and brother Frank H. Phinizy, Jr. She was predeceased by her husband, Ted Sarantos.
