Rena Fagen

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With sadness we wish to inform our family and friends of the passing of Rena Schonthal Fagen, z.l. mother of Arthur and Lester Fagen. Rena Schonthal Fagen, born Oct. 27, 1925, in Krakow, Poland, was a survivor of the Holocaust having spent nearly five years of her adolescence and young adulthood in concentration and work camps Plaszow, Auschwitz and Brinlitz.  She and her mother were saved by Oskar Schindler.  After emigrating to NYC, she married another Schindler survivor (Lew Fagen, z.l.) and they went on to have two sons Arthur (Paulette) and Les (Trudy); six granddaughters, Alicia (Matt Goldin), Shoshana, Rebecca (Matt Houghton) , Ariel (Josh Sperling), Lila (Alex Anavim), and Gabriela; and seven great grandchildren, Evelyn, Samantha, Hailey, Daphne, Lior, Rafael, and Ayla. Rena was an elegant and humble woman, who was kind to all.  She was a talented visual artist, an avid reader, and worked by Lewis’s side in his jewelry manufacturing business.  Rena was a most wonderful and loving, daughter, wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and great grandmother. Rena passed peacefully at the age of 98, on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, a few hours after a musical in-person and virtual shabbat celebration at her bedside, attended by her children, grand and great-grandchildren. Services will be held at 858 Walnut Street on Tuesday 1/9/24 at 1:30 PM followed by interment at the Baker Street Cemeteries Vilna Section. Visitation and shiva minyanim will be at the home of Les and Trudy Fagen. Donations in memory of Rena can be made to Yad Vashem at www.yadvashem.org