Alyse Naomi “Omi” Kamy Cantor
Alyse Naomi “Omi” Kamy Cantor, of Framingham, Massachusetts, died Thursday afternoon January 12, 2023, at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale. She was 86. Born in New York City, she moved with her sister Roberta and parents to various cities and towns in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The daughter of a Hebrew Educator, she was among the first women of her generation to attend Hebrew School and have a Bat Mitzvah ceremony. Education was life-long and nonnegotiable to her.
One month after matriculating at Douglas College, the sister college of Rutgers University, she met the love of her life, Paul Cantor, at a Hillel function. Six-foot, three inch Paul, and five foot Omi made quite a dashing, if not seemingly incompatible, pair. They remained inseparable until his death in 2020.
Omi had many professions and many passions. In addition to being an at-home parent to three precocious boys, she taught Hebrew School, worked as bookkeeper and partner in Paul’s car rental company, engaged in market research at a company acquired by Equifax, then, at the age of 60, opened her own market research company, which she operated until 2016. She was an avid knitter, reader, news junkie, mall-walker, cookbook collector, and traveler.
Her loves were unmediated and also nonnegotiable. Family. Judaism. Food. Democratic politics. A woman of unceasing energy and motivation, she was at her most elevated self when these were experienced in combination, as in celebration of Passover seders, when she would host 25 or more family members and assorted invitees to an evening few would forget, and most would eagerly await the following year.
Omi was a zealous investor. She invested in her synagogue family at Temple Israel in Natick. She invested in cherished and lifelong friendships made throughout her life’s chapters, whether from college, or tenures in New Brunswick, Pittsburgh, New Canaan, and Framingham. Omi invested in her love of beautiful clothes. She even belonged to an investment club.
But by far, her greatest and most treasured investment was in Paul, her adoring husband of 63 years, her three sons and their spouses – Marc and Emily (Lazar), Steve and Zhanna Cantor, Larry and Deborah Cantor, her grandchildren and their spouses, Dmitri and Dinah (Ribarsky), Tali and Mike (Feldman), Eva and Ralf (De Houwer), Josh and Ilayda (Williamson), Max and Avanna Cantor, Rachel Lazar, and Nate Baker – and her three great grandchildren, Oren, Lev and Mischa. And she joyfully included in this portfolio of wealth her devoted sister, Roberta Diamond, and loving nephews and nieces.
Omi was an indomitable force, whose loss leaves us all with a bit less certainty. Her memory is certainly a blessing. Much gratitude is given to all who lovingly cared for her in last days, including her care team at the HRCA, and of course, all of her friends and community.
The funeral is graveside, to be held at 11AM Sunday, January 15, 2023 at the Beit Olam East Cemetery, 42 Concord Road, Wayland MA.
Shiva minyanim and visitation will be held at Marc and Emily’s. Due to Covid concerns, space and times will be limited in numbers. There is an online sign up at http://www.site38.com/cgi-bin/maorshiva/signup.pl
Donations in Omi’s memory may be made to the charity of your choice. Based on her passions, she would have selected any of these:
Temple Israel of Natick Adult Education Fund.