Judith Chernoff

Judy was married for 75 years to Professor Herman Chernoff, a well-known statistician. Judy’s parents emigrated from Eastern Europe to Buffalo, NY at the beginning of the 20th century. Judith was born on Sept 30, 1924, the third of three children. She studied mathematics at what is now the state university of NY in Buffalo, following in the footsteps of her elder brothers, Morris and Joseph. Judy met Herman when they both were studying mathematics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island during WWII. The school had recruited women during the war, providing scholarships in return for part-time work as “human computers”.

Herman and Judy lived in New York City after they were married on Sept 7, 1947 in Buffalo. After Herman completed his dissertation at Columbia University and received his degree from Brown University, they moved to Chicago, IL where Herman completed post-doctoral work at the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics. Judy worked at the Museum of Science doing computations for army-related projects. After 18 months in Chicago, they moved to Urbana, IL, where Herman taught mathematics and statistics at the University of Illinois for two and a half years. In 1951, Herman and Judy visited Stanford University for a semester with a small child (Ellen was born in Urbana) and another on the way (Miriam was born in 1951 at Stanford University Hospital). After completing his contract at the University of Illinois, the family moved back to Palo Alto, where Herman taught for 23 years in the Statistics department at Stanford University. In 1974, Herman and Judy moved to Boston. Herman left Stanford University for a position at MIT and, later, Harvard University.

Judy was an attentive and devoted mother and, as they grew up, ensured that Miriam and Ellen could participate in activities suiting their interests. While raising her children, Judy was also very active in her local community, especially the League of Women Voters and Hadassah, a Jewish Zionist women’s organization. She also worked part time for the county and reading for a blind sociologist at the Center for Advanced Research in Social Sciences. Through her friendships over the years, Judy acquired a wide-ranging knowledge of contemporary art and loved browsing galleries and museums.

Throughout their marriage, Judy and Herman loved to travel. During Herman’s sabbaticals they traveled to far off places and especially liked Italy, England and Israel. They took their daughters with them when they could, or recounted their adventures when they returned home, providing Ellen and Miriam with new perspectives on life.

Judy adapted well to living in Boston. Whenever it snowed, she recalled her childhood growing up in Buffalo, where she said they put on rubber boots and coats and carried on their business. In Boston, she remained involved with League of Women voters and Hadassah. She also had several part-time jobs. She worked at the survey research center at the University of Massachusetts; she also was a bookkeeper for a friend with an Asian publishing and book company in Boston. And she helped raise money for Brandeis University by volunteering at the Brandeis bookstall, a used book store run by the Brandeis National (Women’s) Committee. Judy also volunteered to teach English as a second language to MIT faculty and student wives. She loved to learn; she took Harvard Extension classes as well as classes at Temple Israel of Boston. And, she was a fixture of the Torah Study at Temple Israel. Judy was an avid reader and, even into her 80s and 90s was still reading a variety of genres, including, for example, Franz Kafka’s multi-volume biography by Reiner Stach.

After leaving their home in Brookline, for the last eleven years, Judy and Herman lived at Springhouse, a retirement community in Jamaica Plain, where she continued to make friends and to learn. She especially enjoyed arts and crafts projects. Judy was the link pin of her extended family and loved her six nieces, Sara, Katie, Esther, Ruth, Carmel and Annette as well as their children and grandchildren. Carmel recently summarized Judy’s influence as a “lifeforce” that held the extended family together.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in her memory to JALSA (The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action; www.jalsa.org), Hadassah, or your favorite charity.