Obituaries

SHERMAN-Herbert, formerly of Chelsea and Medford, on February 6, 2012. Beloved husband of Molly (Shapiro) Sherman. Devoted father of Leonard Sherman, Judith Atwood, and the late Neal Sherman. Dear grandfather of Adam, James,  Beth Sherman,  Mark Ellis, and Rachel Atwood and  great grandfather of Molly Ellis. Herbert was a WWII veteran of the army. He worked in the Charlestown Navy yard as a shipfitter for thirty years, and worked at General Electric in Lynn. Graveside services at the Jewish Community Center Cemetery, 16 Buxton Lane, Danvers on Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 11 am. In lieu of flowers remembrances in his memory may be made to a charity of your choice.

WOLFSON, Leonard G. Of Newton, on February 6, 2012. Beloved husband of Sylvia (Smookler). Devoted father of Curt Wolfson and Hope Zieff and her husband Steven. Dear grandfather of Ilana and Jillian Zieff. Loving brother of the late Allen Wolfson. Services at Temple Shir Tikva, 141 Boston Post Rd., Wayland, on Wednesday, February 8, at 1:30 pm. Following the interment at Beit Olam Cemetery, Wayland, Memorial Observance will be at the home of Hope and Steven Zieff, on Wednesday until 8 pm, Thursday 1-4, 6-8 pm, Friday 1-4 pm, and Saturday evening. Remembrances may be made to GRECC Activities, 62 CD, c/o Bedford V.A. Medical Center, 200 Springs Rd., Bedford, MA 01730.

Ruth Gessner-Schocken, musician, mother and champion of peace between Israel and Palestine, died peacefully at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 6. She was 97.

Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1914, into an Orthodox Jewish environment, Ruth Weinberger studied piano at an early age and appeared to have a promising concert career ahead of her. Amongst her well-known Berlin teachers were Prueher and Roediger. But her favorite was Michael Taube who was an influence on her well after she left Berlin.

On a vacation trip to Palestine in 1935, Ruth met Charles Gessner – also on vacation – and they married in New York in 1937. Ruth, along with her brother David, mother and father, had managed to escape Germany before the escalating Nazi crackdown on German Jews. Their escape followed the Nazi confiscation of Ruth’s father’s business – the largest butter and cheese wholesale operation in Berlin.

From 1937 to 1954 Ruth Gessner lived in Escanaba, Michigan, a small town in the Upper Peninsula, and the location of her husband’s family retail business (The Fair Store – “Upper Michigan’s Shopping Center”). During those 17 years in what Ruth’s friends subsequently called her exile to “Elba”, Ruth and Charles had three children: Charles, David and Lenore. Despite abandoning her piano career to become a wife and mother, Ruth still practiced piano four or more hours every day on her beloved Bechstein – brought from Berlin, and wowed the small Michigan community with a number of concerts. Over that period she also became an advocate for Planned Parenthood – and developed a close relationship with many of the small town’s Christian clergy, despite their differences on what at the time were very forward thinking concepts. Escanaba’s Jewish community consisted of 13 families – out of a population of 15,000.

In 1954 Ruth’s husband, after year’s as a silent partner, joined the management of her father’s shoe company – Oomphies – headquartered in Lawrence, and the family moved to Cambridge, thus joining the vibrant greater-Boston arts and intellectual community. A new life began for Ruth, as she developed relations with many musicians in the area. Their new home, featuring a large music room with two grand pianos, became a hub of musical entertainment and a very successful fund raising venue for favorite charities.

In 1968 Charles Gessner died suddenly of a heart attack, and at age 54 Ruth was a widow at what turned out to be close to the midpoint of her long life. Thus began another chapter in that life, one that paradoxically brought her great joy over time. On another vacation trip to what was now Israel, Ruth met a former schoolmate from Berlin, Wolfgang Schocken. They married in Cambridge in 1970 and moved to Tel Aviv, Israel, another community with a vibrant musical life. Mr. Schocken was a viola player and teacher and had two daughters from a previous marriage.

Returning to Cambridge in the early ‘70’s, both Wolfgang and Ruth started new careers, joining the faculties of music departments at MIT, Tufts, BU and the Longy School. Ruth concentrated on coaching singers in German, French and Italian diction, and she developed a group of singer-friends who benefitted from her musical training and her discipline and drive. Many musical events in the music room on Traill Street celebrated the success of this new chapter in her life.

Ruth was widowed again in 1995 when Mr. Schocken passed away. At that time she established an annual concert series at the Longy School – the Gessner-Schocken Concert Series – honoring her two husbands and presenting to the Cambridge music community up and coming artists from across the globe.

For the past 15 years she has continued to participate actively in the vibrant musical life of the greater-Boston community. She sat in the same seat for BSO concerts for 57 years, and sometimes attended more concerts – Celebrity Series, Longy presentations and others – in a given week than most people would attend in a year

Ruth Schocken is survived by two sons, Charles Gessner and his wife Susan of Marblehead and David Gessner of Somerville, her daughter Lenore Travis and her husband George of Lincoln  two stepdaughters, Rachel Eshel and Ayala Sacharov living in Israel; and nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Services  will  be held in the Bigelow Chapel,  Mount Auburn Cemetery on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am.Following  interment  at  Mount Auburn Cemetery  a memorial observance will be held at her residence until 8:00 pm Thursday, Friday 3-5pm and  Sunday 12-2pm , 4-7pm.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Gessner-Schocken Concert Series at Longy School of Music, 27 Garden Street Cambridge MA 02138.

Mr. Abbott A. Shuster, of  New Bedford, died at St. Lukes Hospital, New Bedford, on February 6, 2012.

He was the son of the late Murray and Anne Shuster. He is the beloved husband of Millicent E. (Zeman).

Devoted father of Barry S. Shuster and his companion Theresa Poulin. Grandfather of Max and Sam Shuster. He was the loving brother of the late Gilbert Shuster and Besse Nisson. Services at Tifereth Israel Congregation, 145 Brownell Ave., New Bedford on Wednesday, February 8 at 11am. Following the burial at the Tifereth Israel Cemetery, Plainville, a memorial observance will be held at the home of Barry Shuster, through sundown on Friday. Remembrances may be made to the Tifereth Israel

Congregation Minyan Fund. Mr. Shuster was a veteran of WWll, a 32^nd degree Mason and a Shriner.

For over 50 years he was the owner of Murray Shuster’s Market and then was employed by Fernandes Supermarket.

GOLDMAN-Anne Rachael (Schuman), of Middleboro, on February 4, 2012. Beloved wife of Harvey (Bill) Goldman. Dear daughter of the late Louis Robert and Miriam Schuman (Pinkney). Loving sister of Joseph Schuman. Devoted mother of Stacey J. Norling (Goldman), and Sara G. Hartley (Goldman). Dear grandmother of Cameron and Juliana Norling, and Eli Hartley. Services at Temple Beth Am, 871 North Main St., Randolph on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place, 6^th Floor, Brookline, MA 02445.

Eileen Newman, 83, of Delray Beach Florida, formerly of

Greenfield, passed away peacefully after a brave, years-long battle

with cancer.

Born Eileen Gloria Tinkle, she was raised on a cattle farm in Ravena,

N.Y. Eileen moved to Greenfield in 1950, helping to operate Peggy

Parker, a women’s clothing store that was located on 138 Main Street,

with Marvin Newman, until their divorce in 1978.

An ardent tennis player, she was a fixture at the Beacon Field tennis

courts in the 1970s, cheerfully pedaling there from her nearby home on

High Street on a green adult tricycle, the family dog, Murph,

scampering behind.

She was a member of the Temple Israel Sisterhood and lifetime member

of Hadassah.

Eileen moved to Framingham, MA, in 1981, where she worked for the

International Data Corp. She owned a summer home in East Falmouth, MA,

before purchasing a home in Delray Beach, FL, to which she retired in

2005.

She is survived by her children: Judy (Newman) Cohen and Lori (Newman)

Murphy, both of Andover, MA, and Andrew Adam Newman, of New York City.

She is also survived by her sons-in-law, Martin Cohen and Keith

Murphy; and by four grandchildren, Emily Cohen, Toby Cohen, Benjamin

Murphy and Melanie Murphy.

She is predeceased by her son, Jeffrey, who passed away in 1995.

Funeral services will be held at Temple Emanuel, 7 Haggetts Pond Road

Andover, MA at 10 a.m. Monday, followed by a burial in Greenfield at

the Temple Israel Cemetery, 276 Log Plain Road East, at 1:30 p.m.

Monday. A reception at will follow at the Greenfield Grille, 30

Federal Street. Shiva will be at the home of Judy and Marty Cohen

on Tuesday, February 7, from 3-9 pm. Minyan at 7 pm.

Donations in her memory can be made to the American Cancer Society,

American Cancer Society, PO Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123.

Dorothy “Tootsie”Herman, Of Newton, formerly of the West End of Boston, on January 25, 2012. Beloved wife of the late Samuel “Snowy” Herman. Devoted mother of Michael Herman and Cheryl Kottke of Newton and Fitzwilliam, NH, Dennis and Cece Herman of Newton, and her devoted daughter, Bonnie Bycoff of Hingham and NYC. Mother in- law of the late Meryl Herman. Dear grandmother of Jennifer(Herman) & Sean Farrel, Starr Herman, Perry Herman, Matthew Herman, Amanda (Herman) Shrier, Dr Seth Herman & his wife Kate, William Herman and his wife Heather, Tami (Herman) Olsen and her husband Ed, Gregory, Kenneth, Lorne and Douglas Bycoff and Four great-grandchildren, Beckett & Emmett Shrier, Savannah and Shane Olsen. Graveside services at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanon Cemetery, 232 Fuller Street, Everett, on Friday, January 27 at 11 am. Following the interment, memorial observance will be at Newbridge On The Charles, 7000 Great Meadow Road, Dedham until sundown. Remembrances may be made to Alzheimer’s Association , 311 Arsenal St. Watertown, MA 02472.

Dorothy “Tootsie”Herman, Of Newton, formerly of the West End of Boston, on January 25, 2012. Beloved wife of the late Samuel “Snowy” Herman. Devoted mother of Michael Herman and Cheryl Kottke of Newton and Fitzwilliam, NH, Dennis and Cece Herman of Newton, and her devoted daughter, Bonnie Bycoff of Hingham and NYC. Mother in- law of the late Meryl Herman. Dear grandmother of Jennifer(Herman) & Sean Farrel, Starr Herman, Perry Herman, Matthew Herman, Amanda (Herman) Shrier, Dr Seth Herman & his wife Kate, William Herman and his wife Heather, Tami (Herman) Olsen and her husband Ed, Gregory, Kenneth, Lorne and Douglas Bycoff and Four great-grandchildren, Beckett & Emmett Shrier, Savannah and Shane Olsen. Graveside services at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanon Cemetery, 232 Fuller Street, Everett, on Friday, January 27 at 11 am. Following the interment, memorial observance will be at Newbridge On The Charles, 7000 Great Meadow Road, Dedham until sundown. Remembrances may be made to Alzheimer’s Association , 311 Arsenal St. Watertown, MA 02472.

DeStefano, Mario P. “Dusty”, of Peabody, on January 26, 2012. Beloved husband of the late Teresa (Alberta) DeStefano. Devoted father of Gary and Anne  of Danvers, Dana and Liz  of Beverly, and Wayne and Michelle  of Peabody. Grandfather of Kara DeStefano, Cori and Brian Boudreau, Tyler and Rachael DeStefano, Daniel and Jaclyn DeStefano, Kassidi DeStefano  and Jake DeStefano. Great-grandfather of Brennan Boudreau. Brother of Marilyn  and Ronald Miller, Barbara and Robert  Leuci and Thomas DeStefano. The Family will receive visitors at Conway,Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home, 82 Lynn St., Peabody on Sunday, January 29, 3-7 pm. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to gather on Monday, January 30 at 9am at the Conway,Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home, Peabody, followed by a  Funeral Mass at 10 am, at St Richards Church, 90 Forest Street, Danvers.  In lieu of flowers, remembrances in Mario’s memory may be made to Care Alternatives  Hospice, 181 Cedar Hill Road, Marlboro, MA  01752.Mario  was a funeral director  , hired by the late Henry Levine  he was the first non family member  to arrange  funerals at The Levine Chapel , Brookline  where he was employed for  over 45 years  , shortly after  The Brezniak-Rodman Chapel  was founded he joined the chapel  as  a supervisor and funeral director where he remained until his passing.Mario will be missed by countless funeral professionals  whom he mentored over  his distinguished career.