Merna Maxine Pilot Lipsitt

Born in Bangor, Maine, she was the daughter of Michael and Frances (Golden) Pilot. She attended Bangor High School and graduated from Boston University in 1951. After raising her two young sons, she went back to school to do graduate work and earned a master's degree in education from Simmons College in 1968, teaching thereafter in urban public schools. In 1974, she received another master's degree from Simmons, this time in social work, following which she worked as a psychiatric social worker at Tufts University, the Lindemann Center of Massachusetts General Hospital, and Faulkner Hospital. She completed the Advanced Psychotherapy Training Program (APTP) of BPSI and practiced as a psychotherapist. She served twice as APTP president.

After decades of service, she gave up her career in 2006 when she began to develop the symptoms of Lewy Body Disease, a condition similar to Alzheimer's-type dementia. Even through her decade-long struggle with the disease that ultimately caused her death, she remained loving, sweet, and appreciative of others. Merna was a member of Temple Israel in Boston and was an active member of several professional associations.

In addition to her loving husband she leaves her two sons: Eric Lipsitt of Oakland, CA and Steven Lipsitt of Brookline, MA; and her respective daughters-in-law, Brenda Eskenazi and Mara Krechevsky. Merna was predeceased by her brother, Judge Morris Pilot, of Bangor and Greenville, NC in 2005. She also leaves three cherished grandchildren: Jonah, Daria and Caleb; ten nieces and nephews; her beloved caregiver Graciela Rivas; and many devoted former students, supervisees, patients, colleagues, and friends.

Merna's warmth and empathy, wonderful sense of humor, musical gifts, deep love of and caring for her fellow human beings, and professional excellence will be remembered fondly by all who knew her.

A Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday, June 27, at 12:00 p.m. at Levine Chapel, 470 Harvard Street, Brookline. Burial will be at Sharon Memorial Park, Sharon, MA. The family will receive friends following the burial until 9:00 p.m. in the Tye Room at the Esplanade Condominiums, 75-83 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02142. In lieu of flowers, donations in Merna's memory may be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center; the Bach, Beethoven and Brahms Society; or to a charity of the donor's choice.