Sheila R. Gitlitz

Sheila R. Gitlitz
of Sarasota, Fla.
Sheila R. Gitlitz, 65, of Sarasota, Fla., passed away on November 16, 2007. The cause was Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She was born on 12/25/1941 in Middletown, Conn., the daughter of Edith Cohen Ravitch and the late Harry Ravitch. She is survived by her husband, Dr. George F. Gitlitz; her daughter, Jennifer Gitlitz and son-in-law, Steven Skoblow, and their children, Dvorah and Aviva; her son, Michael L. Gitlitz and daughter-in-law, Dr. Rita Landman, and their children, Jasper and Nina; and her daughter, Rebecca Gitlitz Sauer and son-in-law, David Sauer; her mother; her stepmother, Betty Ravitch; her sister, Lee Broder and brother-in-law, James N. Broder; and nephews, Jake and Joshua; and an extended family. She graduated from Barnard/Columbia University (BA, 1963); and Teachers College/Columbia (MA, 1965). In 1965, she founded the Speech and Hearing Clinic in Binghamton, N.Y., and treated more than thirty children stricken by rubella. In 1968 she founded Speech and Hearing Associates, and headed it until her retirement in 1994. She started Binghamton's first audiology clinic, instituted programs for deaf preschoolers, and was a tireless advocate for children with special needs. An astute diagnostician and therapist, she handled head injuries, strokes, swallowing disorders, foreign accents, and stuttering. Music, Jewish life, and lifelong learning were all extremely important to her. She belonged to Temple Israel in Binghamton, Hebrew Congregation in Chautauqua, and later Temple Beth Sholom in Sarasota. She served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Binghamton, and was honored by the State of Israel for leadership in the sale of Israel Bonds. In 2005, she helped found the board of Chabad Lubavitch of Chautauqua. In Binghamton, she was the president of the BC Pops Orchestra, and a board member of the Summer Music Festival and the Tri-Cities Opera. For almost 25 years, she and her husband spent summers at The Chautauqua Institute, where she served on the board of the Opera Guild, and was active in the Literary and Scientific Circle. Sheila was a person of cosmopolitan interests. At Columbia, she sang with the glee club and was a popular radio DJ. In Binghamton, she ran her own interior design company, and fought for the Equal Rights Amendment. She was an accomplished humorist, regularly entertaining at family gatherings. She was an avid reader of history, a skier, swimmer, boater, hiker and camper.
Funeral services were held on November 18th, at Temple Beth Sholom in Sarasota. Shiva will be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Gitlitz residence, 888 Blvd. of the Arts, Apt. 804, from 7 to 9 p.m. Donations in her memory are welcome to the charity or your choice; or to: Jewish Federation of Broome County (Binghamton, N.Y.); Suncoast Community Bloodbank, Sarasota Memorial Hospital Foundation, Temple Beth Sholom (Sarasota, Fla.); Voice Dept. Scholarship Fund, Chautauqua Opera, Chabad Lubavitch, Hebrew Congregation (Chautauqua, N.Y.).