Linda Penkivich

It is with great sadness that the family of Linda Seidman Penkivich announces her passing at age 81. Linda was born in Queens, New York, and died in Houston, Texas, on November 26, 2024. A fighter until her last moments, she died the way she lived, with great tenacity.

She graduated from Empire State College in their Fashion Buying and Merchandising/Psychology program. She was an accomplished, well-respected, and beloved Tenured Assistant Professor at the famed Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She taught packed classes on Fashion Buying and Merchandising and produced informal, formal, and industrial fashion shows.

Linda was a Fashion Researcher for the textbook Inside the Fashion Business, which was published in eight languages and distributed Worldwide.

In the early to mid-1980s, she taught classes at the University of Houston, including Clothing and Textile Systems, Inside the Fashion Business, and Fashion Planning and Coordination. She was never more alive than when she was teaching. Her students adored her.

Linda had a tender heart and could not stand to see anyone or anything suffer. She often opened her home to people who needed a place to stay and always had an assortment of stray animals living with her. Linda notoriously fed the neighborhood skunks and possums.

She was fond of singing and had a beautiful voice. Linda delighted in entertaining and threw epic events with delicious and beautifully presented food. She especially loved entertaining with her husband, Emil, cooking side-by-side with him. She and her husband, John, shared a ritual martini each evening that John called a tiddlywink. After she lost her beloved Emil, she felt very fortunate to have met such a kind man as John. She and John relished spending summers in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.

She is survived by her daughters Lauren (Andrew) and Rose, Her sister Joan, her niece Shari (Bert), nephew Scott (Bobby), her stepchildren Susan, David, Eric (Kaitlyn), Jeffrey, and Paula (Kyle), her grandchildren Jane (Michael), Allison (Matthew), Danny, Chante (Wallace), Nixy, LaCree, Vivian, Jasmine, Shoshanna, Shai, Miller, Beck, Rhys, Samantha, and Samantha Z.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Anne and Jules Seidman, her husband Emil, and her husband, John.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you consider a donation in Linda’s name to:

Houston Pets Alive! https://www.houstonpetsalive.org/

Central Texas Pig Rescue https://www.centraltexaspigs.org/

Rowdy Girl Sanctuary https://rowdygirlsanctuary.org/

A graveside service for Linda will be held Friday, November 29, 2024 from 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM at Forest Park Westheimer Funeral Home, 12800 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77077, followed by a reception from 12:45 PM to 2:45 PM.