Judith Markowitz's Obituary
Judith Z. Markowitz passed away peacefully on Wednesday, January 13, 2021. Judy was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 31, 1932. Her parents, Sol and Fannie Zas, emigrated to the United States from Lithuania. Sol owned and operated a butcher shop for most of his adult life, and Fannie was a devoted mother, grandmother, and homemaker, and the heart and soul of the Zas family. Judy and her younger twin brothers, Maurice and Seymour, grew up in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, where they developed many life-long friendships. Her family moved to the Midwood area of Brooklyn when Judy entered college, and she and her children shared that home with her parents until Sol passed in 1978, and Fannie passed in 1984.
Judy was always an excellent student, and graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1953 with a degree in sociology. She married her first husband, Hyman Schirtzer, in 1952, and they had two boys, Richard, born in 1957, and Ronald, born in 1960.
In 1963, Judy returned to work as a New York City Public School teacher. She spent most of her 30 year career as a Kindergarten teacher in the under-privileged neighborhood of East New York, and always remained proud of the impact she had on the lives of her students.
Judy married her second husband, Howard Markowitz, in 1981, and they moved to the Majestic Isles community in Boynton Beach in 1997, where they developed many close friendships. Following Howard’s death in 2005, Judy remained active in the community, participating in Hadassah, Book Talks, News and Views, and bi-weekly bridge sessions with her friends and neighbors.
Throughout her life, Judy was an avid reader, theater-goer, and lover of fine films. She loved the beach in her younger days, and enjoyed many a summer afternoon engaged in conversation with close friends while working on her tan. Judy was a fierce advocate for civil rights and racial equality, and always kept up on current events and the political issues of the day. She took great pride in having raised two sons who were both successful in their careers and devoted to their families, and was always elated by a phone call or visit from her grandchildren.
Judy is survived by her brother, Seymour; her brother Maurice and his wife, Barbara; her son, Richard and his wife Diane; her son Ronald and his wife Marshall, her grandchildren, Kathryn and her husband Dan, Michael and his partner, Ashley, Jeffrey, Austin and his fiancé Savanna, Olivia and her husband, Andrew, and Emily; and her great-grandchildren Joshua, Nora, Jacob Wade and Braydon. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to their local Hadassah branch.
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