Ann Platt

PLATT--Ann (Ania Bienstock), of New Rochelle, New York, passed away on February 9, 2008 after a brief illness. Her husband of 63 years, Harold Platt, died following their 63rd wedding anniversary two years earlier. Born in Lvov, Poland in 1920, Ann was brought to safety in New York by her Aunt Charlotte on the eve of World War II. Her entire family perished in the Holocaust. As a youth, she was a skilled athlete. Once in the USA, Ann began to work in the garment industry. She learned English in night school and after marrying, she started her American family. With Harold, Yiddishkeit and family became and remained the center of their lives. Moving to New Rochelle in 1956 she achieved success as a mother and recognition in the community in the Sisterhood of Temple Beth El and the Workmen's Circle. She became president of her chapter of Woman's American Ort. Ann was an avid reader and compassionate advocate for the disenfranchised. She was manager of the Balalaika Russian Night Club in NYC. With Harold, she also became a follower of the Arts and enjoyed both the great Yiddish cultural life in New York as well as theater, music and all of the Arts. She was a strong supporter of Russian Jewry and the State of Israel. She became a skilled artist and had a one woman show of her needlepoint. With Harold, Ann shared in building and maintaining many organizations (the Workmen's Circle (Arbiter Ring), Beth El Synagogue in New Rochelle, the Folksbienne Yiddish Theater). A woman born into poverty and subjected to the terrible loss of her family, she felt fortunate to be an American. She was the loving mother of Laura, Marc and Leslie and mother-in-law of Richard, Susan and Marcia. She was the blessed grandmother of Rachel, Sydney, Emily, Alex, Josh and Bill and friend to many.