Stewart Talent’s Maureen Brookman dies after contracting West Nile virus

Complications from West Nile disease caused the death of Stewart Talent’s film/TV director Maureen Brookman Nov. 4. Mrs. Brookman contracted the disease 13 months ago when a mosquito bit her as she gardened behind her Lincoln Park home.

“Her loss is a terrible tragedy,” said Stewart Talent agent Nancy Kidder. Mrs. Brookman had been paralyzed from the neck down and on a respirator since contracted West Nile encephalitis in late September, 2002.

“It was a hideous fate and Maureen bore it with such great dignity,” Kidder said. “She suffered, but in an inspirational way. We really had great hopes Maureen would get off the respirator, go into rehab and resume some sort of a life.”

Mrs. Brookman basically had started Stewart Talent 20 years when she was divorced from her first husband and reentered the working world, noted Kidder. “She was a force of nature, very hard-working and determined but in a nice way, and she was lots of fun,” said Kidder.

“Heaven’s gain is earth’s loss,” said Aria Talent general manager Marie Anderson, who had worked with Mrs. Brookman years back. “She was one helleva an agent, she was strong, informed, concerned, passionate and hard working.”

Over the years, Mrs. Brookman had built Stewart Talent into one of the country’s top agencies. She had cultivated the careers of such actors as Chris O’Donnell, Mason Gamble and Ron Livingston, among many others.

She is survived by her husband, three sons and three stepchildren.