Peggy Lazarus

Peggy Gross Lazarus, age 91, died unexpectedly but peacefully of natural causes on March 24, 2017, in Irvine, CA where she was living with her daughter, Kathy Lazarus. Peggy is survived by her beloved family, including children David Lazarus of New York City, NY, Kathy Lazarus of Irvine, CA, Virginia Lazarus of Evanston, IL, Elizabeth Lazarus of Boulder, CO; her daughter-in-law Martha DeYoung Lazarus; her 8 grandchildren Ginger, Brian, Sarah, Sam, Leilani, Jay, Maya and Nathan; her 8 great-grandchildren Molly, Bridget, Rumi, Lila, Logan, Kaela, Arjuna and Kailani; her twin sister, Lynn Straus, and older sister, Joan Scheuer; her nieces and nephews Dan, Steve and Leslie Pearlman, Phil, Don, and Katherine Straus, Marian, Dan and Jonathan Scheuer and all their precious and beloved extended families. She is preceded in death by her husband Roger Lazarus and son John Lazarus.
Over a span of 91 years -- from New York City, NY to Scarsdale, NY to Cambridge, MA to Los Alamos, NM (with work years in Los Alamos and Nambé, NM, Piñon, AZ and Denton, TX) and finally to Irvine, CA -- Peggy pursued a range of interests: Born one of twins on December 25, 1925 to Philip Goldstein Gross and Beatrice Rittenberg Gross in New York City, Peggy grew up in Scarsdale and later attended college at Radcliffe, where she earned a degree in social anthropology in 1947. After marrying Roger Lazarus in 1946, she moved with him to Los Alamos in 1951, where she raised five wonderful children. In Los Alamos she was very active with the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Throughout her life she had an avid interest in geology and collected rocks and fossils from the fascinating formations in New Mexico. As the children grew up, Peggy returned to school, earning an M.S. in Education from Bank Street College in 1973, then becoming a teacher and mentor in the then new Head Start program in northern New Mexico, and later, working with Navajo children in Piñon, AZ. In 1981, she earned a Ph.D in early childhood education/linguistics at the University of New Mexico, where she focused on the way children learn to read. She then spent 12 academic years in Denton, where she was an associate professor at Texas Women's University, and where she mentored several successful doctoral candidates, with whom she maintained warm friendships for the rest of her life. In 1996 she retired and returned to Los Alamos where she lived with Roger, her husband of 60 years, until his death in 2007. Finally, in 2010, she moved to Irvine to live out her last years with her devoted daughter Kathy. She avidly followed current events on the television and in the newspapers (which she read cover to cover) and loved to relax doing puzzles. She was a woman of many interests and pursuits, who cherished knowing about the lives and activities of her extended family and of lifelong friends from all corners of the globe.
Peggy was a consistently gentle, kind and caring woman who profoundly loved her family and was a steady and endearing support to all of us who loved her so dearly. She was always interested and always curious.
In lieu of flowers, she would undoubtedly get a big kick out of the idea that people take extra time to sit down with a small child to read a book or play with blocks.