In an interview with The Chronicle about the then-new Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale in 1995 (June 16 issue), Libbie Peckarsky, the group’s president, said that “the enthusiasm and zealousness of the members are totally unusual and wonderful to see.”
The same could have been said about Peckarsky (née Pass) herself in her years of activism in the community. This Whitefish Bay resident died July 12 at the age of 92.
Born in Chicago in 1911, she graduated from Tuley High School in 1928 and attended the University of Chicago, College of Jewish Studies. She also studied music; she was a pianist and had directed a Junior Hadassah choir in Chicago. She moved to Milwaukee in 1940.
She was a member-in-perpetuity of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, and a member of Temple Menorah.
According to her family, “Libbie immersed herself in volunteer work with countless community organizations, all of whom benefited from her organizational and fundraising skills.”
They included the Conference of Jewish Women’s Organizations, Cumberland School PTA, Hadassah, League of Women Voters, National Council of Jewish Women (which gave her its Hannah G. Solomon Award), Congregation Emanu-El Music Committee, Women in Community Service, the Women’s Center and the Wisconsin Women’s Caucus.
She was the first president of the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale and a charter member of Artreach Players, where she worked to bring theater experiences to the elderly and infirm.
Her family also said, “Libbie was dedicated to causes that promoted the arts, equal rights for women and criminal justice, years before they became politically correct. [She] counted numerous rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators among her close friends.
Music and theater were lifelong loves and she sang in and directed choirs and acted in community theater.”
She is survived by Charles W. Peckarsky of Cedarberg, her husband of 64 years; daughters Pamela (Harold) Nonken of Mequon and Pettra (Steven) Pollack of Boise, Idaho; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Rabbis Isaac Lerer, Gil-Ezer Lerer and Marc Berkson officiated at funeral services at Temple Menorah July 15. Burial was in Mound Zion Cemetery.
Memorials to Temple Menorah would be appreciated by the family.
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