Jean Tenofsky May
It is with great sadness that we announce that former longtime Pittsburgh resident Jean T. May, age 95, died in Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle in the loving presence of her daughters, Sharon Rutzick (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), Judith Brea (Detroit) and Tamar May (Brookline, Mass.). She is also survived by her sons-in-law William Rutzick and Gershon Brea. Her beloved grandchildren Lisa, Daniel (Shuli), Rebecca (Jason), Eve, Yehuda Leib (Chana) Brea, Meir (Talya), Adina (Aaron), 21 amazing great-grandchildren and her sister Jessica Feldman (Evanston, Ill.). She was the daughter of the late Louis and Liuba Tenofsky of South Bend, IN and Miami Beach, Fla. Born in Russia in 1920, her family settled in Indiana. Jean was a graduate of Goshen High School (Indiana) and studied economics at the University of Michigan from which she graduated in 1938, the first to attend college in her family. She held many important positions including working for the War Labor Board, public health research positions at Stanford University, George Peabody College and Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.), Fisk University and Meharry Medical School, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University and the American Institutes for Research. In Nashville she started her own research company, Evaluation, Survey and Health Research, producing several major publications that are still cited and utilized in the public health field. As a young mother of two living in South Bend, Ind., Jean’s love of Judaism and children lead her to start a Jewish nursery school in her home. Her love of Judaism was matched by her love of and devotion to Israel. A lifelong Zionist and member of Hadassah lead her to teach survey methodology and evaluation courses at Hadassah Hospital for several years after she retired. Her yahrzeit will be observed annually in the Hadassah Hospital Chagall Chapel. A lover of nature, classical music, ballet and art, Jean was well-traveled, visiting major art museums throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Russia where she collected volumes of art books that she retained until her death. While in Russia, Jean met all of her extended family members who had remained in that country and was instrumental in helping many of them once they emigrated to the United States over the next years. She was also devoted to helping other Jewish Soviet emigres who arrived in Pittsburgh, offering them hospitality and guidance with their resettlement and professional pursuits. She ingrained in her children the fundamental values of Judaism that stress that all men/women are created equal, devotion to family, the importance of education and she was steadfast in her belief in G-d and her commitment to religious observance. She was an active member of the congregations Poale Zedek and Shaare Torah, was an ardent supporter of Yeshiva Achei Tmimim and the Kollel, all in Squirrel Hill. Jean loved being a member of the Squirrel Hill Jewish community and truly missed Murray Avenue and her self-described “shtetl” there. She will be sadly missed by both family and friends around the world. Contributions in her memory may be made to Yeshiva Achei Tmimim or Hadassah.
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