Laurie Renée Weinstein

June 6, 1957 - June 12, 2025 Radiating love until her final breath, Laurie Renée Weinstein, 68, passed away on June 12, 2025, surrounded by all three of her most precious children, Hannah, Miranda, and Sean, and her two doting sisters, Shelley and Jill. Born on June 6, 1957, in Los Angeles, the sheer force of Laurie was something to behold. She was the epitome of a middle child, always keeping her parents, Jerry and Lenore, on their toes. Whip-smart and creative, she studied communications at UC San Diego ('79) and spent a life-changing year abroad at Lund University ('77) in Sweden. She fell in love with a Swede named Roger and began her 50-year-long connection to the country–learning Swedish fluently and becoming a citizen. After Laurie completed a Ph.D program at UW Madison in media analysis, she moved back to Sweden as a Fulbright scholar in 1980. Laurie and Roger lived in Stockholm together for more than 20 years. They were married in 1989 and had three Swedish-American children. Laurie was a journalist with United Press International and also worked for the Swedish Fulbright Commission. In 1986, she reported on Sweden's two biggest news stories in a generation: the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
A lifelong Democrat, she was a self-described political news junkie, an avid reader, and a gifted writer/editor. She prized her intellect and was committed to staying sharp by always reading the paper, solving her sudoku puzzles, and keeping up with popular culture. She loved to learn and was a woman of many interests including live music, theatre, dance, movies, travel, museums, and trivia. Most of all, she enjoyed sharing her passions with her children and loved ones–discovering new bands, hunting for the perfectly thought out gift, attending book club, baking with friends, having a spirited debate at the dinner table, and dancing together at a concert or just around the living room.
Laurie was the glue that held her tight-knit family together. In 2001, she moved to Los Angeles with her kids in pursuit of a better education for them. Her greatest wish for her three children was for them to be as close to each other as she was to her two sisters with whom she shared an inseparable bond. She had a special connection with her nieces Sarah, Genna, and Hallie, playing an honorary parental role for them and many of her kids' friends. Laurie will be missed by brothers-in-law Bruce and Rick, sons-in-law Caleb and Jake, grandsons Oliver and Arthur, as well as countless friends and family around the world. We love her mostest.
Her passing comes after aggressively battling thymoma cancer for the last 15 years. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to advance thymoma research at IU's Comprehensive Cancer Center for Thymoma (go.iu.edu/8tGz).
Memorial services are Wednesday, June 18, at 1 p.m., at Eden Memorial Park.