:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(216x0:218x2)/fredric-brandt-435-323686c3a8514d9d871f56191926c909.jpg)
Dr. Fredric Brandt’s famous friends and clients gathered in New York City on Thursday to honor the late celebrity dermatologist in a private memorial service.
Guests in attendance included Joy Behar, Kelly Ripa and Allure editor-in-chief Linda Wells.
Behar spoke highly of Brandt at the service at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, saying, “He was so much fun. We used to talk about Bette Davis all the time.”
Behar said she often tried to needle the names of his celebrity patients out of him but he never, ever told.
Ripa grew emotional when she spoke at the memorial, saying, “This is the saddest thing that I never thought I’d have to do.”
She explained that she’d met Brandt on Live with Regis and Kelly 14 years ago, when he helped give makeovers to people who had experienced trauma.
They loved the way they looked, but it was the way Brandt made them feel about themselves – “that they mattered” – that meant the most, she said.
Wells and Brandt’s publicist Jacquie Tractenberg also spoke at the service, recalling how brilliant, kind and loyal the doctor was.
Friends and co-workers remembered him as a sophisticated art collector and dog lover who wore off-the-runway Givenchy and sang show tunes and rap around the office. He never said anything negative about anyone because “he didn’t want to put bad words out there,” one speaker explained.
The heartfelt service was given by N.Y.C. socialite Lisa Maria Falcone, the wife of hedge-fund manager Philip Falcone.
Over 200 friends, family members and colleagues also gathered at Miami’s Temple Israel on Sunday for an intimate funeral service for Brandt.
The dermatologist to the stars was found hanging in his Coconut Grove, Florida, home by his close friend John Joseph Hupert on April 5, according to a Miami Police report.
Brandt was on suicide watch and being treated for depression at the time of his death.
His passing was ruled a suicide by police, although a medical examiner has not yet confirmed the cause of death.
Although Brandt was “upset” and “hurt” by the character parody of himself on Tina Fey‘s Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, sources have told PEOPLE that it was not the reason behind his suicide.
“It wasn’t the only thing troubling him, it was just one factor,” one source said.
Celebrity Dermatologist Fredric Brandt Found Dead in His Home
ncG1vNJzZmiolaS9rbGNnKamZ5Oauaau0aKrsmeUp3qnvsSdqaKbXZe%2ForrDrapmpZWivLO1wKVkrJ2iq7aksYyipWamqZh8