Charlotte Fink

Charlotte (née Shulman) Fink, age 91, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her friends on October 21, 2013. She was born in Auburn, Maine on April 5, 1922, and was a resident of Las Vegas, NV for fifty years. Her parents, Paul and Hattie Shulman, emigrated separately from Russia as teenagers shortly before World War I. Her father, Paul Shulman, ran the Beth Abraham Hebrew School in Auburn, Maine, and was a well-regarded Torah scholar. Her mother, Hattie (née Miller) Shulman, was a business school graduate and assisted with the operation of her family’s textile factory in Lewiston, Maine until the Shulman family moved to Toledo, Ohio in 1936.

Charlotte was a distinguished student and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work with honors from Wayne State University in 1942 and a Master’s Degree in Social Work with honors from Wayne State University in 1944. She specialized in treating teenagers and young adults with behavioral and addiction disorders and was in the vanguard in diagnosing and treating adolescents.

While working for the Department of Social Work at Beaumont Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, she met and married Joseph L. Fink, who was completing his residency in cardiology. They were married in 1950 and had one son, Gordon Ian “Gordy” Fink, who was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1953. She continued to treat adolescents until the Fink family moved to Las Vegas in 1963.

Dr. Fink and Mrs. Fink were fixtures in the Las Vegas community and actively supported various non-profit organizations, including Desert Springs Hospital, the Humane Society, and the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law.

Her son, Gordy, died suddenly in 1998, a loss from which Mrs. Fink said she never fully recovered. At the time of his death, Gordy Fink was a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Nevada and adjunct professor at the UNLV William Boyd S. School of Law.

Dr. Fink passed away in December, 2011, only having recently retired from the practice of medicine.

Charlotte Fink was a devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt and friend. She believed her most important job was to provide a wonderful home and continuous support to her husband and son. She was an avid reader and had a keen intellect and sharp wit. She continued to remain actively engaged with family and friends until her recent illness and will be greatly missed.

Mrs. Fink is survived by her nieces, Judith Ballin, Ph.D. and Barbara Graham, and nephews, Gerald Shulman, M.D. and Joel Shulman, Ph.D., and Howard Fink, and many great nieces and nephews.

Services will be held on Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 2:30 pm at King David Memorial Chapel, located at 2697 East Eldorado Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89120. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Gordon I. Fink Scholarship Endowment Fund at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law, c/o Deborah Young, UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154.