Sylvia Joan Burruto passed away on February 15, 2024, in the presence of her loving husband of 61 years John Burruto following a prolonged period of declining health.

Sylvia was born in Brooklyn, NY on Halloween in 1939 to a Jewish refugee mother fleeing Nazi tyranny carrying her daughter in her womb.

Sylvia’s biological mother at age 18 started a new life in the U.S. and gave her baby, then named Dinah Casewitz-Oppenheimer, over to the care of a Jewish social service agency hoping her father would soon follow her to New York.

Tragically, baby Dinah’s father, along with his parents, were deported to concentration camps where they were subsequently murdered.

After a year or so in foster care, baby Dinah was adopted by her new parents; Harry and Pearl Felderstein, and began a new life as Sylvia Joan Felderstein of Rochester, NY.

Raised by her new parents Harry & Pearl and surrounded by an extended and close-knit family, Sylvia went on to study art at Syracuse University and later the University of Rochester where she met a man from the other side of the tracks who turned out to be the love of her life, John Burruto.

Married to John in 1963, the couple sought out adventure in Los Angeles, California where they had their first son Justin. Returning to Rochester, John and Sylvia had their second son David.

As John’s career in public education advanced, they moved to Amherst, MA where they settled for the next 50 years and where John served as the principal of the Amherst Regional Junior High School for over 20 years.

During her time in Amherst, Sylvia raised her two boys and pursued many career endeavors including as the founding secretary of the Jewish Community of Amherst.  

Sylvia’s professional life was a lesson in reinvention, taking on new challenges and overcoming obstacles.  She was a devoted mother, wife, and businesswoman with a sharp wit and ready retort for any circumstance – mostly for the better.

In the 1980s, Sylvia pursued a career in real estate becoming a local agent as she was by then a well-known figure in the community.  

In the next decade, Sylvia started her own business by taking over the former Alexander’s Jewelers in Northampton specializing in estate jewelry – a discipline she learned by working in and mastering the lessons of the trade.  

After leaving the jewelry business, Sylvia, always with an eye for crafts and style, again reinvented herself by learning about and mastering the dealing of antiques, specifically American primitive pieces – a discipline informed by living and working in New England.  Sylvia maintained booths in antique shops in various retail houses in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut stocked by her purchases gleaned from area auctions, estate sales, and markets.

Sylvia is survived by her husband John, her eldest son Justin and his husband Michael Duffy, her son David and his wife Star and granddaughter Daisy.

Services will be announced at a later date. Donations to the World Jewish Congress in her name would be preferred in lieu of flowers.