Irma Malcolm

Irma Malcolm passed away from natural causes on January 22, 2026. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, a borough known for its history, culture and unique people. She was one of them. She stood around five foot three inches and wasn’t large in stature, but that was more than compensated for by a very large feature of hers, her mouth. When she opened it, amazing things came out – humor, love, wisdom and great medical advice. No, she wasn’t a doctor, but that never stopped her. Her remarks could sometimes be off-color, but as she said, that gave them emphasis!

She was the daughter of Max and Bess Berk and sister of Rowena Feist and Robert Berk. At eighteen she took a job at a summer camp as a waterfront director - what matter that she didn’t know how to swim. When she wanted something, she always got it. Later, she attended Eastern Michigan University and then moved to New Orleans after marrying her husband, Burton Malcolm. After two years there, they went on to live in New Jersey where she became the loving mother to Mark and Randi.

For nineteen years, she directed Westmount Country Club, a summer camp in New Jersey. In preparation for each season, she would have notes and charts strewn across the dining room table to set up her activities. It looked like the War Room in the Pentagon but it all ended up making sense. She was also a substitute teacher for middle and high school grades. Many substitutes experience flack and disorderly conduct from their students, but not Irma. Her students may have had big mouths, but hers was bigger. She gained their respect and their confidence.

With her disarming demeanor, she also gained the love of her fellow teachers and peers, to the point where they made up titles for her. Some of them were, “Lady Malcolm, Dr. Irm and the “The Universal Woman.” (She never really figured out what that last one meant.)

To her husband, she was a companion, an advisor and care-giver for his numerous ails. To her children, she was mentor, confidant, editor, costume-maker, clothes-buyer, school project-helper, ice cream place taker and she made the best stuffed cabbage ever! She taught her children and grandchildren not to worry about what anyone else thought, “You know who you are,” she would say. And everyone knew who she was - the most inspiring, unique, giving, wisest and youthful-thinking person anyone ever met. Then, in her later days, she formed a loving relationship with her care-giver, Marquelin.

She is survived by her son, Mark, her daughter, Randi and son-in-law, Alan. She is also survived by grandchildren, Jamie and Mike Gordon, Jill and Adam Baranker and great grandchildren Kyle, Dani, Leo and Miley.