Barbara Lee Chertok

Mrs. Barbara Lee Benjamin Chertok, daughter of the late Irwin ‘Red’ Benjamin and Lillian Zorn Benjamin, was born December 14, 1928 in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. She attended public schools in Boston and Newton before going on to Vassar College, where she earned an AB in 1950 in mathematics, economics, and architecture. Following her time at Vassar, she married Mr. Eliot Gould Chertok of Brookline, Massachusetts, and the two went on to have four children, Dean, Joanne, Deborah, and Brian.

While starting a family and settling down in Chestnut Hill, MA, Barbara’s mind went to work and she re-entered the world of academia, taking courses at Harvard School of Education in mathematics. Not stopping there, she went on to be a member of the first women’s graduating class from Harvard Business School in 1964, with a concentration in finance.

Barbara’s life and career were dominated by her family and her endless pursuit of knowledge, her desire for deep thinking, and her yearning to understand anything and everything the world over. She was instrumental in continuing in the business legacy of her father, Irwin ‘Red’ Benjamin, influencing the operations of Old Mr. Boston Liquors, Caldwell’s Dry Gin, and Felton’s Distribution Co. She taught mathematics, macro-economics, history, geography, and financial and estate planning; developed and delivered seminars and training courses on the selection and use of micro-computers; served as a visiting lecturer at the Lesley Graduate School of Business Management in Cambridge, MA; and taught micro-computer classes at the York Adult Education Program in York, ME. Beyond her family, her legacy today includes her involvement with the fellowship program at Harvard Business School, her devotion to the fields of mathematics, design, computers, and history, and her authorship of several books including co-authorship of one of the earliest manuals on digital coding and the use of micro-processors.

During hers and Eliot’s retirement, Barbara is perhaps best known locally as the white-haired bookseller in Ogunquit Village, as founder and owner of BooksInk, an independent bookstore focusing on history and mathematics.

Today, Barbara is survived by her husband of 67 years, Eliot Chertok; her son Dean Chertok; her daughter Joanne Chertok; her daughter Deborah Greenstein and son-in-law Martin Greenstein; her son Brian Chertok and daughter-in-law Lauri Rakoff-Chertok; and her eight grandchildren, Benjamin Chertok, Samantha Chertok, Zachary Chertok, Alison Chertok, Lili Greenstein, Maxine Greenstein, Andrew Greenstein, and Erik Greenstein.

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Graveside services at Lindwood Memorial Park, 497 North St., Randolph, MA on Thursday, July 13 at 12 noon. Immediately following services the family will be receiving friends at the Four Points by Sheraton, 1125 Boston-Providence Turnpike, Norwood, MA. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to The Brain Tumor Foundation, 25 West 45th St., Suite 1405, New York, NY 10036 (www.braintumor.org)