Laurie Renée Weinstein

Radiating love until her final breath, Laurie Renée Weinstein, 68, passed away on Jun 12, 2025, surrounded by all three of her most precious children, Hannah, Miranda, and Sean, and her two doting sisters, Shelley and Jill. Born on June 6, 1957, in Los Angeles, the sheer force of Laurie was something to behold. She was the epitome of a middle child, always keeping her parents, Jerry and Lenore, on their toes. Whip-smart and creative, she studied communications at UC San Diego (‘79) and spent a life-changing year abroad at Lund University (‘77) in Sweden. She fell in love with a Swede named Roger beginning her 50-year-long connection to the country–learning Swedish fluently and becoming a citizen.

After Laurie completed a Ph.D program at UW Madison in media analysis, she moved back to Sweden as a Fulbright scholar in 1980. Laurie and Roger lived in Stockholm together for more than 20 years. They were married in 1989 and had three Swedish-American children.

Laurie was a journalist with United Press International and worked for the Swedish Fulbright Commission. In 1986, she reported on Sweden’s two biggest news stories in a generation: the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Laurie was the glue that held her tight-knit family together. In 2001, she moved to Los Angeles with her three kids in pursuit of a better education for them. Her greatest wish for her children was for them to be as close to each other as she was to her two sisters, with whom she shared an inseparable bond. She had a special connection with her nieces Sarah, Genna, and Hallie, playing an honorary parental role for them and many of her kids’ friends.

Laurie will be missed by brothers-in-law Bruce and Rick, sons-in-law Caleb and Jake, grandsons Oliver and Arthur, as well as countless friends and family around the world.

Memorial services were held at Eden Cemetery on June 18 at 1 pm (11500 Sepulveda Blvd Mission Hills, CA 91345).

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center for Thymoma. To donate, please visit: go.iu.edu/8tGz

For checks, please make memorial gifts payable to Indian University Thymoma Research. Please indicate “In memory of Laurie Weinstein” on your gift. Mail to: IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, PO Box 7072, Indianapolis, IN 46207.

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