Elly Weiss, M&A ’56, passed away on November 28, 2018. The following is from the written program at her memorial:

“Elly was the only child of Max and Sadie Weiss. When she was young, her father was the Education Director of the Communist Party and was prosecuted by the U.S. Government and served time in jail for his political beliefs and activities. His views undoubtedly shaped Elly’s longstanding i nterest in social justice, equality, and looking out for the poor.

She attended the High School of Music & Art (M&A) in Manhattan as an art major and did her undergraduate work at the City College of New York (CCNY) where she was the highest ranking student in its prestigious English department. She was editor of the literary magazine and a winner of a Woodrow Wilson Scholarship for graduate study at Stanford in literary criticism. She wrote her honors thesis on E.M. Forster at CCNY. A fine scholar, she was pleased that part of her thesis was footnoted in a book on Forster by one of her professors.Elly had a long career in publishing, marketing trade books for Doubleday, and then marketing educational books and software for the College Board. She was an enthusiastic early adopter of Facebook, where she shared information about the fine arts and promoted all artists she found interesting. She posted her ideas and commentary on many topics ranging from the deeply personal to all the arts, politics, current events, NYC – – and cats. The conversations she had with her Facebook friends were always fascinating and made for good reading. Many of these friends came to value her caring and kindness in their own personal crises.

Elly met her husband Lew Straus when both were part of a “posse” taking care of a mutual friend who at a too-young age had a debilitating stroke. Lew was the love of her life. They had 10 very happy years together before Lew was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. A devoted and loving partner, she was an amazing asset to him as he struggled with the disease.

She was re-elected to her co-op board multiple times and served for many years. Elly was universally appreciated because her questions had real substance, and made positive contributions. She worked to preserve her building as affordable housing and also as a place where the building’s
elderly residents had access to a social worker.

As a member of M&A class of 1956, she joined in the creation of the “M&A’56 Salon” as an enjoyable and intellectually stimulating way to stay in touch with one another after the 50th reunion in June 2006. The Salons featured a presentation by a classmate or their partner or friend of a topic about which they were passionate. Elly was the organizer who made it all come together in welcoming homes, with wonderful food and drink.

In 2009, Elly helped organize the M&A’56 Conversations, Sunday Brunch gatherings in which the group discussed topics that related to this time in our lives.

Elly is survived by her cousin Stephanie Troyan and by the Straus family. During her last year, a group of devoted friends from various parts of her life formed “Elly’s posse” to give her back some of the support and kindness that she had so generously given us all.

Renee Germand with Judith Burges, Mimi Siegal Dietz, Jonathan N Katz, Sandra Kazahn Masur, Linda Monssen, Stephanie Troyan, and Sylvia Weber