Edith Lovi Balas

Edith passed peacefully in her sleep on Nov 16, 2024 at her home in Boca Raton, Florida. She was the only child of Alexander Lovi and Klara Lovi, (nee Rooz), born in Cluj, Romania On June 20,1929. As a Hungarian Jewish child growing up during the rise of Nazism, Edith was remarkably confident and optimistic by nature. A top student, she insisted on completing her schooling after surviving the Holocaust. She was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, until liberation is 1945.

At age 17, Edith met her future husband of 70 years, Egon Balas. Together, they raised their two daughters, Anna and Vera. Edith wrote her memoir, A Bird in Flight, Memoir of a Survivor and Scholar, in 2010. Her story as a young woman was was rife with challenges:. First deportation, then her husband was imprisoned in solitary confinement by the Communist Romanian Government, with no communication for over two years. But Egon and Edith did not dwell on hardships. Following years of waiting, the family emigrated to the US in 1966. They built a fulfilling life surrounded by friends in Pittsburgh, Pa., even while Edith, was also a fivefold breast cancer survivor, faced health challenges.

Edith obtained her PhD in Art History at the University of Pittsburgh in 1973 , and became a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Over the years, Sheshe authored over 10 books in Art History as well as her autobiography. Edith also curated numerous art exhibits in US and Europe, primarily showcasing the works of Valentin Lustig, a Magical Realist painter from Cluj, child of Holocaust survivors. She especially valued his paintings, works that subtly portrayed the horrors of the Holocaust.

Edith was a lover of art, music and literature. She was always elegantly dressed and she gave parties with her own secret recipes. Her students loved her for helping them develop their own ideas. She shared her passions generously.

Edith's pride and joy was her family. A devoted daughter to her parents, loving wife and mother, adoring grandmother to her grandsons John, Bob and Alex, and doting great-grandmother to her eight great grandchildren.