Devra Jane Wasserman

July 31, 1950 - October 23, 2024 Devi Jane Wasserman ("Devra"), beloved wife, sister, aunt, and friend, passed away peacefully on October 23, 2024 surrounded by family and friends at her home in Los Angeles after a long and arduous battle with ALS.??

She was born on July 31, 1950 and grew up in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, MN. She graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1968 and from the University of Denver in 1972. She moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to start a career in the entertainment business where she spent many years as an Executive Assistant to several major entertainment executives and attorneys.

In 1997 she met the love of her life, Laurence "Larry" Becsey, a literary agent and manager, and they were married in 2006. Together they traveled the world for his work and for their pleasure until the onset of ALS thirteen years ago began to limit Devra's mobility.??

Devra was passionate in everything she set her mind to, whether it was being a fearless advocate for progressive causes or tackling mountains. She was a lover of nearly all the arts, including theater, architecture, music, and dance. She supported myriad charities, and she and Larry were Board of Governors Supporters at Cedars-Sinai. They were patrons of MOMA, LACMA, Disney Hall, Segerstrom, Center Theatre Group, and numerous dance companies around the world.

She was always ready to try the newest restaurants with friends, enjoying a great meal accompanied by an extra cold, very dry Chopin martini with three olives. She had a truly adventurous spirit and loved being outdoors, overnight mountaineering?and hiking with the Sierra Club (completing 444 mountains and the Sierra Club's HPS Finish List in 1995), and climbing mountains all over the West.

Her friends loved her for her loyalty, compassion, intellect, and wicked sense of humor. All will miss her life force, and her generous, kind, warm, and loving spirit.

Although ALS eventually took away her mobility and later her speech, she handled it with amazing strength, courage, and grace. And all the while, her devoted and beloved husband Larry was by her side taking care of her with unfaltering dedication.

Devra was preceded in death by her parents, Joyce and Victor Wasserman; her sister Vicki and her brother James. Survivors include her husband, Larry; her brother David; her niece Jillian; her cousin Mel and Holly Shatz (Whitney Swett and Adam Shatz); cousins Burton and Rob Cagen and Jeri Watters; and her niece Lisa Miller and her nephew Mark Miller.

Larry and Devra's family and friends extend a special thank you to those who have been kind and loving as exceptional caregivers and therapists, nurses and doctors over the past years; as well as a large circle of close and dear friends.

A celebration of her life was held in early December.?

For those who wish to honor Devra's memory, donations can be made in tribute to Devra Wasserman to the ALS Network (alsnetwork.org) or to Cedars-Sinai in support of research on ALS (https://support.cedars-sinai.edu/give/170230/#!/donation/checkout).