Sigourney Cheek earned a bachelor's degree in art history and studied on the graduate level at Vanderbilt University. She was active for many years in the Nashville fine arts community, co-founding the Antiques and Garden Show of Nashville and also serving as Chairman of the Board and acting President and CEO of Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Fine Arts Center. She became a published author late in life after she was diagnosed with cancer, writing two books prior to her death in 2010.