Obituary of Miriam Biskin
Miriam Newell Biskin died peacefully on--Monday--April 2, 2018, at the age of 98 surrounded by her loving family.
Miriam was pre-deceased by her loving husband, Irving Michael Biskin to whom she was happily married for over 60 years. Miriam was the mother of Anne Rothenberg (Jeff) of Jerusalem and Debby Flancbaum (Lou) of Bergenfield, NJ. She left behind four cherished grandchildren, Aaron Rothenberg ( Chava), Elishe Binder ( Nahum), Rachel Sicolo ( Bart), and Jessica Tayler ( Ezekiel), And the jewels in her crown—-her eleven great grandchildren— Binyamin, Yonatan and Naomi Rothenberg, Amiad, Maayan and Yaniv Binder, Aleeza Reich and Leo Sicolo, Isaiah, Ellie and Gideon Tayler. She had a special relationship with her bonus great grandchildren, Ava and Jonah Spier and Zev Bashevkin, her nieces and nephews; Linda Pogoda Friedman, Risa Pogoda Brooks, Joan Fleser Aho,Nancy Jonas, Stanley Axelrod, Lee Brooks and Eli Newell, and with friends Malka and Rami Almog, Dan and Millie Grossberg, Jeremy Gaies and David Levine Miriam was an accomplished pianist and continued to entertain with her playing into her late nineties. She was a prolific author with innumerable children's articles and two books; Pattern for a Heroine and My Life Among the Gentiles, to her credit. Miriam was active at Temple Beth El in Troy and was a former president of Troy's Hadassah chapter. Irving and Miriam enjoyed golfing and square dancing together and spent many happy summers with the Biskin clan in Lake Luzerne, where they had a camp. In 1967, the Biskins built their dream home on 16th in Troy where they enjoyed many bar-b-ques and pool parties. Miriam was the devoted daughter of Eli Newell and Bessie Fishman Newell and the sister of the late George, Immanuel and Kieve Newell. She graduated from Cohoes High School and State Teacher's College. Miriam earned a BA in English and an MA in both English and history. She taught at Cohoes High School for 37 years and served as chair of the English department for many years. She developed a reading lab where high school students who were behind in reading could receive help. With all her accomplishments, her primary focus was always Irving. She cared for him through many illnesses, including a massive stroke, with kindness and patience. She adored him and never recovered from his death. At the age of 90 plus, she put a collection of his letters from World War II into a book that she called, “Letters from My Love”. Every night she slept with that book next to her. In the last years of her life, Miriam lived in Rivervale, NJ and was lovingly cared for by Natasha, Elena, Gladys, Phyllis, Maribel, Nancy, and Laylani among others
Services at the Levine Memorial Chapel, 649 Washington Avenue in Albany on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 at 12 noon followed by interment in the Beth El Cemetery in Troy, Shiva will begin on Sunday evening following Passover at the home of Debby and Lou Flancbaum, 5 Trinity Court in Bergenfield, New Jersey and continue through Friday morning and at the home of Ann Rothenberg on Saturday night after Shabbat and Sunday morning from 10-12 at 151 Colonial Avenue in Albany . She will resume shiva at her home in Jerusalem .Those wishing to remember Miriam in a special way may make a memorial donation to The Michael J. Fox. Foundation, PO Box 5014, Hagerstown, Maryland 21741-5014 or hadassah.org.
