Shoshana Cecilia Pakciarz

Shoshana Cecilia Pakciarz of Cambridge, MA, a leader in Boston’s nonprofit and Jewish communities, died May 19, 2024 of Alzheimer’s.

Shoshana lived her life on three continents: she was born and grew up in Argentina to parents whose families fled anti-Semitism in Poland. As a young woman, she moved with her family to Kibbutz Mefalsim in Israel. After starting her college education at the University of Tel-Aviv, she came to the U.S. as a camp counselor with the Kibbutz Youth Movement. She graduated from UMass-Boston summa cum laude, with a double major in Psychology (with Distinction) and Theatre Arts. She obtained a Master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Her professional life revolved around community organizing and nonprofit management. For the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office for Children, Shoshana developed community-based programs within the Boston region. As an executive with the United Way of Massachusetts, she oversaw strategic planning and assessed nonprofit organizations requesting funding. As Executive Director of Project Bread – The Walk for Hunger, over 8 and a half years, Shoshana turned a 200-300 person sponsored walk, begun by the Paulist Center of Boston, into an independent nonprofit, one of the largest single-day fundraising events in the U.S, drawing as many as 47,000 walkers over a 20-mile route to raise millions of dollars to fight hunger.

As Executive Director of the New Center for Arts & Culture, she created “Words on Fire,” an 8-week kick-off program of exhibits, discussions and films, largely at the Boston Public Library, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nazi book-burning in Berlin. A second collaboration drew enthusiastic audiences by bringing an exhibit on Jewish women and their salons from New York City’s Jewish Museum to Boston College’s McMullen Museum.

As a passionate volunteer, Shoshana was a Founding Board Member of filmmaker Michal Goldman’s Boston Jewish Film Festival, and served as a sounding board for the organization’s Executive and Artistic Directors for many years. She also served as a Board Member of the Global Health Committee, Inc, focusing on the health of immigrants from Cambodia, Ethiopia and other developing countries.

In her free time, Shoshana and her husband Lenny Gruenberg participated with a large group of friends in monthly Shabbat dinners and discussions. With their closest friends, they celebrated all the Jewish holidays, as well as weddings and birthdays, often welcoming the group to their home. In addition to frequent visits to relatives in Israel, they traveled the world, from Cuba and South American countries to Turkey and India. Closer to home, they loved attending theatrical performances, including Cambridge fringe and experimental theatre.

In addition to her husband of 52 years, Leonard Gruenberg of Cambridge; his son Aaron Gruenberg and wife Rosalie Fadem of Glenville, New York, Shoshana leaves her twin brother David Erez, and her younger brother and wife Baruch and Tirza Erez, all of Israel. She was predeceased by her sister and brother-in-law Clara and Israel Zamir. Shoshana also leaves her cousins Daphne Romanoff and husband Alex Chelminsky of Newton and David Romanoff of Worcester to mourn her, as well as a very large and loving circle of friends.

Burial was in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in May. The family encourages contributions in memory of Shoshana Pakciarz to Doctors Without Borders USA, Inc. (Médecins Sans Frontières), 40 Rector Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10006.