Pearl Axelrad

Pearl Axelrad passed away peacefully at home on November 15, 2025. The cause was Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), an aggressive form of Parkinsonism's.
Pearl (nee Levin) was born and lived in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated from New Paltz State Teachers College and taught for two years in New York City. She met her future husband, Maurice Axelrad, in the summer of 1955 when she was working as head counsellor at a summer camp at a small hotel in the Catskill Mountains where he was working as a waiter. Her love of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Broadway shows, and travel was shared by Maurice and initially brought them together. After a whirlwind summer romance they were engaged by Thanksgiving and married the following June. She then taught at a public school near Philadelphia while he finished his last year of law school.
They spent the next four years in the D.C. area, where both of their children, Caryn and Nina, were born. This was followed by 11 years in Edgemont, NY. In 1973 they made their last move, to Bethesda, MD.
When they arrived in Bethesda they joined Temple Shalom, where Pearl's involvement led them to form many lifelong friendships. She was very active in Sisterhood in a variety of functions, in Winetasters, and served on the first executive committee of Renaissance, a social group focusing on empty nesters.
For their 25th wedding anniversary she worked with an architect designing a house that they built in Bethany Beach, DE, where for 36 years she enjoyed hosting family and a wide variety of friends, especially including young associates at Maurice's firm and their children.
She and Maurice recently celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary. Indulging their love of travel, they eventually traveled throughout the world, visiting 53 countries and every continent. Some of the highlights were meeting up with Nina in Africa while she was in the Peace Corps, and cruising to Antarctica with Caryn and Sandro. Her favorite was when they celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary by taking their family to Italy, with a one-week stay in Rome and a one-week stay in a beautiful country villa in Abruzzo near Florence.
Pearl was a loving and devoted wife, mother and grandmother. She is survived by her husband, her daughter Caryn Axelrad (Sandro Menzel), her granddaughter Natasha Hed, and her close cousin Lewis Strudler. Unfortunately she was predeceased by her younger daughter, Nina, who passed away at a young age leaving behind her 2-year old daughter, Natasha. Pearl served as a loving substitute mother for several years until Natasha's father, Steve Hed, remarried and moved to Vermont. Steve and Jennifer's children, Naomi and Noah, call her Grandma as well.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. November 18th at the Chapel of Judean Memorial Gardens, 16225 Batchellors Forest Rd, Olney. For those who cannot attend, the services will be streamed online: https://dmvmemorials.com/obituary/pearlaxelrad/.
A Shiva service will be held at 3:00 pm November 19th at Fox Hill, 8300 Burdette Rd, Bethesda, and will stream online: https://www.youtube.com/live/Tz9LtvgZm3g
Donations in her memory can be made to the Rabbi Bruce Kahn Endowment Fund at Temple Shalom, 8401 Grubb Rd, Chevy Chase MD, 20815.