Rhoda Gloria Schwartz

Rhoda Gloria Schwartz

(November 18, 1927- August 29, 2023)

Rhoda was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York to Isadore Rabinowitz and Anna Paget. Her family owned a two-story four-family home, and young Rhoda consequently grew up surrounded by siblings and extended family.

In 1947 she married Bennie Schwartz, a former Marine whom she met in New York. Not long after they wed, Ben founded a women’s apparel manufacturing company in Miami, FL. They had two sons, Ira (b. 1949) and Steve (b. 1950), whom they raised in their new home in Miami.

Despite humble beginnings teaching herself to make rice pudding, she developed a reputation in the kitchen, and was especially renowned in the South Florida community for her baking skills, delighting all with recipes ranging from mandel bread to German chocolate cake.

Rhoda, like her mother before her, was heavily involved in charity work through the Kinneret Chapter of Hadassah, serving as the President of their Miami Region from 1986 to 1988 and receiving their National Leadership Award in 1988. In February 1990 she was named an “Ima” in appreciation of her outstanding dedication and hard work, following in the footsteps of her “Yiddisha Mama”, who became an Ima of the same chapter six years earlier, in February 1984.

Following Ben’s retirement in the 1990s, he and Rhoda traveled around the world together. They made aliyah to Israel with family in 1997 to see her youngest grandson, Eric, bar mitzvahed atop Masada.

Rhoda continued her work with Hadassah after moving to Boynton Beach in 1999, where the Simcha of Aberdeen chapter named her “A Woman of Valor” in 2007 and thanked her for her dedication to Jewish education.

Rhoda was beloved by her friends in the Aberdeen community, with whom she enjoyed playing cards and mah-jongg.

She is survived by her sons Ira (Elena) and Steve (Kathy), and their children Lauren, Andrew, Vanessa, Samantha, and Eric. She passed after a touching final visit from her niece, Barbara Lehrer, who was like a daughter to her and whom she considered her personal hero.

A graveside service for Rhoda will be held Thursday, August 31, 2023 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Riverside Gordon Memorial Chapels at Mount Nebo (Kendall), 5900 SW 77th Ave, Miami, FL 33143.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.RiversideGordonMemorialChapels.com for the Schwartz family.