Anita Silverstein

1932 - 2016

May 16, 1932 - July 22, 2016 Anita Silverstein passed away unexpectedly at her home on July 22, 2016. Born Anita Marie Diamond to Nathan and Marjory in Long Beach, California in 1932, she was blessed with beauty and brains. At 16, Anita was her high school representative to Girls' State in Sacramento where she was elected to its highest office: Governor! "Governor" Diamond went on to be named Justice of the Supreme Court at Girls' Nation in Washington, D.C. where she met President Harry Truman in 1948. In 1951, Anita was crowned Compton College's homecoming queen. At USC, the Phi Beta Kappa pledge worked her way through the school of Dental Hygiene, earning her degree in 1955. That same year, she was also princess on their Rose Parade float. A champion figure skater, Anita (now Tefkin) won the bronze medal in pairs at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1957. After her brief first marriage, Anita worked full-time as a dental hygienist, becoming the consummate single working mother and provider for her only child, Blair. In 1973, Anita married Eldon Industries CEO and philanthropist, Robert Silverstein. Bob and Anita (or "Deda" as he affectionately called her) were inseparable. They loved movies, the Music Center, jazz nights at the Hollywood Bowl, dinners at Spago, or even better, Lucy's El Adobe. Together they did much for their Los Angeles community as plaques around town in their name illustrate: outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, in the ER at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and at The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. In their early decades together, Anita traveled with Bob on his many business trips to Europe and Asia where she loved exploring out-of-the way neighborhoods and shopping in obscure antique shops and flea markets. A friend recently dubbed her "the original Mapquest" for her uncanny ability to navigate the streets and subways of Tokyo, Taipei and countless other far flung cities long before the advent of smartphones. Anita was fun and funny, chic and stylish, an avid gardener and an impeccable hostess who threw elegant parties for family and friends. She was crazy for dogs and loved a good psychic! An early and ardent advocate of health foods, Anita was also the go-to-gal for the latest in alternative medicine. However, after Bob passed in 2012, her greatest joy was going for burgers and shakes with her 9 year old grandson Theo. Most of all, Anita had a natural way of being there for others: giving advice, solving problems and always going out of her way to help. She was a devoted mother, grandmother, wife and dear friend who will always be in our hearts. She is survived by her daughter, Blair (Tefkin) Paeper and husband, Brian; stepchildren Rob Silverstein and wife, Susan, and Suzanne Chiaramonte and husband, Andrew; grandchildren Matthew, Leah, Jesse and wife, Merisa, Jaysen and Theo; great- granddaughter, Simone; brother, Robert Diamond; and cousin, Leonard Bloom. Services were held at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills, July 25, 2016. Expressions of condolence in Anita's name can be made to The Teak Fellowship, 16 West 22nd Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10010, www.teakfellowship.org.