Edith Lovi Balas

Even though I had not meet Dr. Balas, I have read her extraordinary memoir, Bird in Flight. What an extraordinary person and scholar! I believe that she had inspired -and continues to inspire-many people through her courage, resilience, and erudition.
May her memory be a blessing!

To our dear Anna and the entire family, you will always remember a life in which the good prevailed and overpowered the terrible worse! May you know no more sorrow! In loving memory of the strong, giving mother and scholar, pilar of a gifted family for generations to come! Ora and Stefan Israel

Anna,
Bob and I send warm caring to you and your family at this time.
Love,
May and Bob Sickles

I have never met Edith and I hope my message will not be misunderstood. I live in NYC and have just seen Edith´s image and obituary in the NYT. It moved me to tears that this remarkable woman lived through so much and persevered with beauty and grace. As a German woman who was born in the sixties, I will never stop to feel horrified and deeply ashamed by my country´s history. And it fills me with tears of joy to learn that Edith survived, had a happy life and died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 95, embraced by loving daughters and grandchildren, loved and admired by everyone who knew her.

We are saddened by the loss. We met Edith on a few occasions when she was providing support for her artist friends and also in 2014 at the Holocaust Memorial Monument inauguration in our native city of Cluj, Romania. May she rest in peace.

Dr. Balas was my art history professor at Carnegie Mellon. I enrolled in several of her courses, Brancusi, Picasso and others. She was inspirational. During one of the courses Pittsburgh Artist, Bruce Breland, was having an exhibition titled The Warsaw Woodcuts at the Pittsburgh Jewish Community Center, at that time located on N Bellefield Ave. She took our class of 20 students for a tour and discussion of his work. After the tour, she took us into a room where we sat on the hardwood floor and she told us the story of her´s and her family´s Nazi capture. There wasn´t a dry eye in the room. Once the courses ended, she would invite us to her home for refreshments. Her courses, her story, her life, her passion, have remained a positive impact in my life. I was an undergrad at CMU from 1978-1982, in 2024 she remains a clear vision in my mind and a major influence. What a remarkable life. What a remarkable woman.

I am grateful to Edith, with whom I was a neighbor for 12 years in Bucharest, for the friendship she showed me as a child, then as a teenager. I admired the strength with which she has come through life's trials. I will never forget the harmony and beauty that never left her.

I never met Edith Balas but read her story with interest and admiration Marilia Aisenstein

Sincere condolences at the passing of Edith. May her memory be always for a blessing.

We are saddened by the passing of Edith. We knew her for many years as a caring person, erudite, with a deep sense for the beauty of arts. Her Holocaust experience affected the rest of her life and we participated together in 2014 at the Holocaust Memorial Monument inauguration in our native city of Cluj, Romania. Edith had the honor of giving a very emotional speech in the name of the Holocaust victims. All of us who witnessed it, will never forget it. Condolences to Anna, Vera and the entire family. May she rest in peace !

Judith and Mike Klein

So sorry to hear this sad news and sending my sincere condolences to all of you. Edith and Egon were wonderful people and I enjoyed our long discussions around the swimming pool about art, of course, but also about many other subjects too.

I met her daughter Anna at Allderdice and then connected Edith with my mother (Sandra Klein), also a Holocaust survivor. Edith was so beautiful inside and out and always had an area of elegance. Heartfelt condolences to Anna, Vera and their families. May her memory always be a blessing.

I met her through Egon, who was a colleague of mine at Carnegie Mellon. Wonderful person. May her memory be a blessing.

May her memory be a blessing

She forever remains the embodiment of Jewish perseverance. Her family is a truly beautiful legacy. May her memory be a blessing.

She was an amazing person, and we will miss the Balas family in Pittsburgh. Rest in peace, dear Edith. Love, the Hammers