Amherst, Johanna Mautner Plaut died in Amherst on November 16, 2015.  Johanna was born in Vienna in 1936, and fled to the United States with her parents to escape the Nazis in 1938. After beginning a career as a professor of French literature, she later found her true vocation as a social worker. She and her beloved husband, Tom, lived in New York City and Appalachia, and finally put down roots in Amherst in 1977. 

In Amherst, Johanna became a stalwart member of many local causes. For years she worked as a quiet volunteer behind the scenes with the League of Women Voters, the Resource Center and on the boards of Amherst A Better Chance and the Rosenberg Fund for Children. She surprised many people (including herself) when she ran for Town Meeting around 1980 and won the most votes in her precinct.  She served in Town Meeting for 18 years.  Emboldened by her local electoral success, Johanna took on larger political projects later in her life.  She was also a founding member of Social Workers for Peace and Justice in Hampshire County and, after retirement, an active speaker and organizer on behalf of single payer health care. 

In her 20-year career as a social worker in Greenfield she worked with low-income clients. Her practice included individual clients, starting groups for incest survivors and people with eating disorders and treating inmates in the Franklin County jail.  She also helped her colleagues to form a union and was an active member of the Service Employees international Union. Her example inspired both of her children to devote their professional lives to public service. 

Johanna led by example. She was cherished for her compassionate, principled approach and her willingness to take on unglamorous tasks. Friends and family would turn to her for generous and incisive perspective. 

From her parents she learned an appreciation of precise language and art. Later in life she became more irreverent and outspoken, assisting war tax resisters, enjoying bawdy humor and laughing with friends. She was lovingly supportive of her children, backing them to follow their own path, even when she did not understand their choices. 

After fleeing Europe, Johanna grew up in Ohio and was raised going to church. Her parents did not share their Jewish heritage with their children, so Johanna had no knowledge of her Jewish background until she was eleven years old. After marrying Tom in 1963, she learned more about Jewish tradition, but it was only in Amherst that she fully embraced Jewish life. The Jewish Community of Amherst enabled Johanna to study and learn about her heritage. Johanna had a bat mitzvah with a group of other adults in 2003 and served for many years as co-chair on the JCA’s Social Action Committee. 

Johanna was an avid swimmer and hiker and once climbed a 12,000-foot glacier in France, using crampons and roped together with her fellow climbers. She enjoyed music, theater and the museums in the area and played in a recorder quartet for many years. She earned a B.A., cum laude, from Swarthmore College, a PhD in French Literature and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. 

She leaves behind Tom, her devoted husband of 52 years, her children and their partners, Rebecca and Emiliano of Brookline and David and Tanya, of Davis, California, three grandchildren, Max, Sarah and Reiko, and her sister-in-law, Susan Hester of Washington D.C. Her sister Mary-Helen predeceased her.

Contributions to honor Johanna’s life may be made to Mass-Care, the single-payer health care advocacy group, at 9B Hamilton Place, Suite 2, Boston, MA 02108.

Services will be held on Wednesday, November 18^th at 11:00 am at the Jewish Community of Amherst, 742 Main Street, Amherst.