Marcia Baum

Marcia Baum (neé Berman), 102, of Evanston, Illinois, reached the end of her long life on October 7th, 2025. She was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the third of four children, to immigrant parents, and moved to the Midwest to attend Antioch College - an institution where she met her first husband (Stanley), many of her closest, lifelong friends, and to which she remained connected for the remainder of her life. As she told it, her older sister asked her, "Why would you go to Antioch? It's all free love and communism?" Marcia never looked back.

With the exception of a memorable three-year interlude in Baltimore, MD in the electric late 60s, Marcia spent most of her adult life in the Chicago area, where she worked as an early-childhood educator, was active in local politics and historical preservation, attended as many musical events as she could, played the piano every day until several years before her death, and raised her four children.

In the second half of her life, many summers were spent on Brant Lake in the Adirondacks with her second husband (Frank Untermyer), who shared her love of music, nature, and curiosity. It was there that she mastered the art of pilfering rhubarb from neighbors.

She delighted in Frank's international students, who opened the world to her; often her travels with Frank took them to visit these beloved students in their African homes. Perhaps it was there that she picked up her wardrobe staple of the boubou.

Deeply committed to community and justice, with a hearty dose of rebelliousness, Marcia had the uncanny ability to charm nearly everyone she met. She dedicated herself to uplifting others, loved and was beloved by family and friends, and made time to walk the lake shore almost every day, often barefoot. noticing the birds, the plants, the light, the people and the water.

She is survived by her four children, Carl (Lynne), Stuart, Ellen (Jeff Fischer) and Marc (Steve Dillworth), six grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, including one who arrived in just enough time for the two to meet, and a much broader mishpachah for whom her memory will be a blessing and who will remain inspired by her life well lived. Marcia will be interred in Philadelphia with Stanley. A memorial of her life will be held in Evanston in the next few months. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Antioch College, the American Civil Liberties Union or the Evanston Community Foundation. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com

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