Sonia DiVittorio

Sonia DiVittorio, 70, of Rego Park, NY, passed away on Thursday, July 3, 2025. Sonia is survived by the following family members, all cousins: John Opuda, his wife Lynn, and their child, John; Barbara DiVittorio and her children, Roseann and Michael; Anita DiVittorio and her children, Steven and Tom; Phyllis Gomez, her husband Pedro, and their children, Diana and Jaclyn; and Gina Russ, her husband Ed, and their children, Jennifer and Jessica. Sonia is predeceased by her parents, Myron and Sophia.

Sonia held high standards when it came to the people and activities she loved. Although she was reclusive, Sonia established deep personal connections and was a generous and caring friend, daughter, and colleague. When her friend Jerome got sick with AIDS in the 1980's, she stood by him, making numerous visits to his apartment and, later, his hospital. She constantly thought about how she could be more helpful to him, and his death devastated her.

During COVID, when her mother fell ill with Alzheimer’s, Sonia diligently cared for her, mostly long distance. Sonia became her mother’s legal guardian, supervised her aides, and installed an internet camera in her mom’s house so she could keep an eye on things. And even though it angered her mother, Sonia managed to remove her father’s old handgun from the premises and turn it in to the police – a good thing, since there were still some bullets around.

Work was probably Sonia’s most intense passion, and she was capable of putting in marathon sessions at her desk day after day. As a developmental editor, she played a key role in the creation of beautiful and useful textbooks, including early editions of Lubert Stryer’s Biochemistry. She was particularly good at developing art for complex scientific content. Sonia was generous with her time in mentoring colleagues, as well as dedicated to creative collaboration with authors.

When she wasn’t working, Sonia really loved movies. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of actors, directors, and film history. We spent much time together at Film Forum, an art-house theater in downtown Manhattan. She turned me on to the films of Jean Renoir, including Grand Illusion, maybe her favorite. Among Sonia’s biggest film loves was Hong Kong and Korean gangster movies. She loved actors like Chow Yun-Fat and was fascinated by the ballet-like possibilities of slow-motion machine-gun shootouts. I recently discovered in her apartment a box that was too heavy to move. It turned out to be filled with DVDs of Asian gangster movies.

But Sonia also enjoyed the most mainstream entertainment and would spend some of her evenings long ago watching series like Dallas and Falcon Crest. One of her biggest complaints during her recent stay in a rehab facility was that the movies available on her TV were subpar. She wanted to watch the original Rocky movie but was stuck with one of the mediocre sequels.

Sonia’s high standards might be tough for any of us to live up to. But trying to do so seems like a worthy goal.

Sonia will be laid to rest Monday, July 7, at 10:30 AM at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, NJ.

-Daniel Jussim, Friend