Milwaukeean Martha Mabel Forman (nee Cohen) died of natural causes on Sept. 25. She was 96 years old.
Forman was born in Brooklyn and came to Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She graduated in 1931 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
She and her husband Joseph, who died in 1992, retired to Sarasota, Fla., in 1969. She returned to Milwaukee in 2003 to live out her final years.
A self-proclaimed “professional volunteer,” she was active locally in Brandeis University’s Women’s Committee and the Reform Jewish community. She was very involved in her synagogue in Sarasota and served as president of the sisterhood there. She also created a program through Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Sarasota called S.O.S., Senior Outreach Service, which provided lunch and activities for seniors in the community.
In Milwaukee she was a member of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun.
According to her family, Forman enjoyed world travel. She was “devoted to good, healthy living, to community philanthropy and to her extended family,” they said, and she and her husband were a “perfect ballroom dancing couple.”
She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Joseph Ben Forman; and a son, Michael A. Forman. Survivors include daughter Roberta Bass of Milwaukee; son Roger (Karen) Forman, of Boulder, Colo.; seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Private services were held in Sarasota on Sept. 29.
Memorial contributions to the Jewish Home & Care Center in Milwaukee are appreciated by the family.
Loading ...