Jane Fortune

Jane Fortune was born in Indianapolis on Aug. 7, 1942, the oldest of four children of William L. and Jane (Hennessy) Fortune. Her mother had been a journalist. Her father was a journalist who was later elected Indiana state treasurer; he had come from a long line of civic leaders and philanthropists who were instrumental in developing Indianapolis. Ms. Fortune’s great-grandfather William Fortune started the city’s first phone company and the local chapter of the American Red Cross, had the city’s streets paved and served on the board of Eli Lilly and Company, the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant. His daughter Evelyn Fortune Bartlett — one of Ms. Fortune’s great-aunts — was married at one time to Eli Lilly, the grandson and namesake of the company’s founder. Ms. Fortune graduated from public high school in Indianapolis and attended Western College for Women in Ohio (now called the Western College Program, part of Miami University there). She spent her junior year in Florence, where she began her lifelong love affair with the city. She continued her studies at Rosemont College, outside Philadelphia, but did not graduate. Her marriage, to John Medveckis in 1964, ended in divorce. Besides her brother William, she is survived by a son, John, and a daughter, Jennifer Medveckis Marzo, both from her first marriage; and two other siblings, Pamela and Richard Fortune. She met Robert R. Hesse, who had been president of the Chautauqua Institution, the arts and education organization in upstate New York, as well as executive director of the Joffrey Ballet and who was later the chief fund-raiser for Unicef. They were partners for 25 years. Together they created the Indianapolis City Ballet in 2008. As lovers of Italian food, they opened a seasonal Tuscan restaurant, Bella Fortuna North, in Northern Michigan. And they established a small vineyard there, where they made pinot grigio and prosecco with grapes from vines brought from Italy. They had homes in Indianapolis; Boca Grande, Fla.; Leland, Mich., and Florence. Mr. Hesse died in 2016.