Maram Schuster, 82, born November 15, 1935 died May 14 , 2018 after a long illness, a longtime resident and psychotherapist in Sarasota, FL. Beloved wife of Larry Schuster, CPA and trade show manager, they celebrated a marriage of thirty-four years.
Maram, a.k.a. Marilyn Bernstein grew up in Brooklyn, New York where she sang on Yiddish radio WEVD as a teenager before graduating from Midwood High School. She married Robert S. Persky, a New York attorney in 1955, birthed and raised three children on New York’s upper west side where she was very active in politics, shared lifelong friendships and celebrated life hosting great parties. Divorced in 1978, Maram worked as a public school teacher, psycholinguist, and actress in films and TV as member of SAG. She also worked in sales and marketing for the corporations Sinclair Radionics, Sony, and AIG. She earned her BA from Brooklyn College in 1957, masters in psycholinguistics from Columbia in 1971, MSW from Adelphi School of Social Work in 1984, and became a certified social worker in NY, with board certification. After her marriage to Larry, affectionately called “Schuster” and her move to Sarasota in 1986, she received her LCSW license in Florida in 1988 and worked at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and Jewish Family and Children’s Services for twenty-one years. She also had her own private practice at the same time and felt she had found her calling as a psychotherapist.
Forced to acquire new skills when she left New York City in 1979 to live in the suburbs of Great Neck, LI in her second marriage, she learned to drive, studied yoga, played tennis and went back to graduate school for her MSW. She said, “The most difficult part of getting my masters degree was having to drive three highways to get to college.”
Maram led a Chavurah, a group of friends in Jewish Sabbath celebrations in Sarasota
for many years. As one member of the group said, “Maram was a mensch who nurtured many souls.”
She loved to travel throughout the US, Europe, Far East and Israel. She combined her thirst for new sights and therapeutic talents as guest lecturer on several cruise lines.
Maram is survived by sons Steven Persky, Joshua Persky (Cindy) and daughter Laura Persky (Richard) and nine grandchildren in Israel and US: Nicola, Ben, Sophia, Daniel, Gabriel, Emily, Jason, Isabella and Isaac. All her family, friends and clients will miss her spirit, joy, light, creativity and humor as well as her insights, wisdom and guidance.
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