ELEANOR EPSTEIN

EPSTEIN--Eleanor, aged 92 years, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and Boca Raton, Florida passed away peacefully due to complications of COVID-19 on the morning of Friday, January 15, 2021 at her residence in Boca Raton, Florida. Eleanor is survived by her brother, David Levinson and his wife, Marjorie; four sons: Mark, Larry, Andrew, and Steven; four daughters-in-law: Jodi, Nancy, Laurel, and Robin; twelve grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren. A fifteenth great-grandchild is due in March of 2021. Eleanor was born in New York City on April 1, 1928 to parents Bertha and Herman Levinson. She attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn, NY and New York University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business. She met her future husband Edward Epstein in 1948 and after several dates during which they raised funds for the fledgling State of Israel, married him on January 29, 1949 at the age of 20. Edward passed away in 2015 at the age of 90 after over 65 years of marriage. Eleanor was deeply committed to philanthropy and the Jewish community throughout her life, seeking out Jewish communities during extensive worldwide travels with her husband from the 1960s well into the new millennium. She served as the first female President of the Board of the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ from 1976-1980, presiding over its relocation from Englewood, NJ. She chaired the Lion of Judah women's giving society for the United Jewish Communities of Bergen County, served on the board of trustees at the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, and dedicated the Rose and Louis Epstein Na'amat Vocational School for children at risk in Holon, Israel in honor of Edward's parents. To the Epstein family she dedicated the Neve Josef Community Center, for immigrant and marginalized communities, in Haifa, Israel, and she created two significant endowment funds at the Kaplan JCC on the Palisades. She was a member of Temple Emanu-El of Closter. Eleanor is revered by her family as an exemplary matriarch -- head of a large family cultivated on her strong values, deep intelligence, unshakable morality, and quiet dignity. Donations in Eleanor's honor may be made to the Edward & Eleanor Epstein Building Fund at the Kaplan JCC on the Palisades, 411 East Clinton Ave, Tenafly, NJ 07670 -- https://jccotp.org/