Suzanne Messing Sznajderman, an immigrant, outspoken feminist, journalist, and beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend, died on January 18, 2023 in her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was just a few weeks shy of her 91^st birthday.

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1932, Suzanne spent her early childhood in Paris where she and her parents, Eva and Benjamin Messing, migrated in search of greater economic opportunity. Many of Suzanne’s relatives, including all of her mother’s closest family, perished in Poland during the Holocaust. 

In 1941 Suzanne, Eva and Benjamin, along with Benjamin’s two brothers and their families, escaped Nazi-controlled France for New York. Suzanne graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and attended Brooklyn College before transferring to the University of Michigan where she completed degrees in history and journalism. 

After graduating she returned to New York, where she began her journalism career. There she was introduced to Marius Sznajderman, an aspiring artist who would become her husband. Marius had also escaped France with his parents and settled with them in Venezuela before immigrating to New York to attend Columbia University. The couple was introduced by Marius’s aunt Collette, who was his future mother-in-law’s dentist in Europe before the war and later again in New York. Suzanne and Marius were married for 61 years until his death in 2018.

The couple settled in Hackensack, New Jersey, where Suzanne had a position as a reporter at the Bergen Record. When she became pregnant with her first child, Michael, she followed convention and resigned from the Record. She also chose to forgo a graduate degree in journalism at Columbia University, where she had been accepted. Two more children, Tobi and Marc, soon followed.

Her frustration about the limitations placed on married women fueled her interest in feminism. She joined the northern New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for Women and eventually became its president while also pursuing free-lance writing projects focused on women’s issues. She later became a writer and editor at New Directions for Women, an important, nationally distributed feminist newspaper. The relationships Suzanne nurtured in the women’s movement remained strong and important to her throughout her life. 

Suzanne continued to pursue her love of journalism until her final days, posting her reflections and commentaries about contemporary issues on her blog, Roaming Through Life. 

Despite frustrations with traditional gender roles, Suzanne was a loving and caring mother and grandmother, a role that also brought her much joy. She maintained close relationships with all her children and their spouses: Michael (Elaine Witt), Tobi (Joel Harris) and Marc (Jeannette Sznajderman) and her seven grandchildren: Evan, Jesse, Lily, Lina, Noah, Aimee and Rachel. And she stayed connected with dear friends and the extended Sznajderman and Messing families, despite their being spread across the globe. From Israel to France, Germany and Argentina, England and Venezuela, and across the United States, family and friends grieved her passing.

After more than 50 years in their quirky Victorian house in Hackensack, which became a gathering place for writers, artists, feminists and neighborhood kids, Suzanne and Marius moved in 2015 to Applewood, an independent living facility in Amherst, to be closer to Tobi and Joel. At Applewood they enjoyed making new friends and pursuing their artistic and professional interests. Suzanne quickly became active in the community, including helping lead a yearlong commemoration in 2020 of the 100^th anniversary of the passage of the 19^th Amendment granting women nationwide the right to vote. The celebration culminated in a pandemic-appropriate, socially-distant parade that drew local and regional media attention.    

Both Suzanne and Marius were blessed with vital, sharp minds until the end. And like Marius, Suzanne was surrounded by family and wonderful caregivers when she passed.

A service celebrating Suzanne’s life and legacy will take place on Sunday, April 30, at 11 a.m. at the Jewish Community of Amherst, 742 Main Street. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Doctors Without Borders, Planned Parenthood or the Yiddish Book Center in Suzanne’s memory.