Doris M. (Small) Kanin

Doris M.(Small) Kanin

Of Newton and West Palm Beach and formerly of Brookline, Boston and Norwood, January 15, 2016 after suffering a massive stroke a week earlier. She was surrounded at home by her loving husband and children who hugged and kissed her and reminisced about their wonderful life together right up to her last breath. Doris was the beloved wife and soulmate of Dr. Irving Kanin for over 71 years and loving mother of Dennis Kanin and his wife Carol of Newton, Erik Kanin and his wife Karen of Portsmouth, NH, and Lisa Hochheiser and her husband Joseph of Chevy Chase, MD. She was the adoring grandmother of Zachary Kanin and his wife Christina Angelides, Jesse Hochheiser, Jonah Kanin, Ethan Hochheiser, Franklin Kanin and Cody Hochheiser and the great-grandmother of six-week old Elodie Kanin. She was the daughter of the late Sidney and Ida Small, sister of the late Dr. Melvin Small and his wife Judith and of the late Leslie Paul and her husband Leonard. She also leaves behind her sister-in-law Beverly Brosterman and her husband Stanley and her late sister-in-law Beatrice Small and her late husband Leonard as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins. Doris was born in Boston in 1923, won the Boston Citywide Spelling Bee at 16, and graduated from Girls Latin School. She received her Bachelor’s degree and Masters in Political Science from Boston University. She founded and served as president of the Norwood League of Women Voters, led the fight to bring METCO to Norwood, and was active on the town’s Democratic Committee. She and her husband started Lynwood Laboratories, a household products business, during the mid-1950’s which continues to this day. Lynwood Laboratories invented Spray-n-Starch, Doris’ idea which Irving developed. In the 1960’s she became one of the leaders in the Vietnam antiwar movement in Massachusetts, organizing marches and mass meetings that helped persuade members of the state’s Congressional delegation to change their positions on the war. In 1972, Doris was elected a delegate on the McGovern slate to the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach and as the result of her pragmatic leadership at the convention, was elected by her fellow delegates as Democratic National Committeewoman from Massachusetts. On January 20, 1973 when Richard Nixon was sworn in for a second term, she organized the Inauguration of Conscience, a counter-inaugural at the National Methodist Church in Washington attended by Senators, members of Congress, clergy and a thousand opponents of the war. In 1973, she was appointed newly elected Congressman Joe Moakley’s first Legislative Director in Washington. In 1976, Doris became the National Political Director of Senator Frank Church’s Presidential Campaign and was a delegate to the 1976 Democratic National Convention. From 1979 through 1983, she served as Federal-State Liaison for the Massachusetts Department of Human Services while volunteering in 1980 for Senator Edward Kennedy’s Presidential campaign and serving as a Kennedy delegate to that year’s Democratic National Convention. In 1984, she was appointed National Communications Director for Physicians for Social Responsibility. She attended one more Democratic National Convention in 1992 as a delegate for Paul Tsongas after helping to organize South Florida for his Presidential campaign. She continued to serve as president of Lynwood Laboratories well into her ‘80s. Throughout her adulthood, Doris was a crusader for social justice, civil rights and a more peaceful world. She never lost her idealism or her conviction that we must all strive to make a difference and that legacy will live on through her children and grandchildren. She will always be remembered by them and her husband for her kindness, enthusiasm, energy, dynamism and belief that nothing is impossible. Services will be held on Sunday, January 24 at The Wilson Chapel, 234 Herrick Rd. Newton Centre at 1:00 PM. Following  interment at Or Emet Cemetery, 776 Baker Street, West Roxbury, the family will be sitting shiva at the home of Dennis and Carol Kanin in Newton till 8:30PM on Sunday and from 2-4PM and 7-9PM on Monday. Memorial contributions may be made in Doris’ name to Alzheimer’s Association, 480 Pleasant Street, Watertown, MA 02472.