Renee M Bradley

Renee Florence Madorsky Bradley, 95, of Shaker Heights, passed away on Sept. 23, 2021. Renee was born in Cleveland on July 29, 1926, the daughter of Sylvia and Max Kohrman. She was predeceased by beloved husbands, Allen Madorsky, Zoltan Klein and Harlan Bradley.

Renee is survived by her brother, S. Lee Kohrman of Beachwood; and her six children, Harold Madorsky (Debra Gressel) of Shaker Heights, Jared Klein (Peggy Heine) of Scottsdale, Ariz., Michael Madorsky (Elizabeth Stern) of Cleveland Heights, Jay Madorsky of Shaker Heights, Susan Madorsky (Ed Bruggemann) of Des Moines, Iowa, and Seth Madorsky (Laura Brauer) of Chicago, as well as 18 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and dozens of nieces, nephews and cousins.

Renee was a graduate of Cleveland Heights High School and the University of Wisconsin. She met her future husband, Allen Madorsky, at a national Jewish Welfare Board event. They married in 1949, built a home in South Euclid and had five children. After Allen died tragically in 1962, Renee married Zoltan Klein, and together with his son, Jared, the family of eight moved to Shaker Heights. She married Harlan Bradley in 1974.

In 1985, in search of a city that offered them the broadest options of theater, music, dance and art, Renee and Harlan decamped to London, England, where they spent much of the next 20 years, returning to Cleveland each year for Thanksgiving, and then to Captiva Island, Fla., for the winter. During their years in London, Renee and Harlan regarded their Bloomsbury flat as a base of operations from which they traveled widely throughout the world, often by bicycle or on a hiking adventure, and at which they warmly welcomed guests from near and far. Visits to the Bradleys in London were famous for nonstop theater, opera, lectures, book readings, music and dance recitals and, at the end of a long day, midnight suppers.

While raising her young children, Renee still contributed time to Jewish causes, particularly Hadassah, and chaired the Women’s Division of Israel Bonds. A dedicated daughter, sister and aunt, Renee hosted Shabbat dinners every week for her beloved family, and enthusiastically celebrated all Jewish holidays. She was an avid student of Judaism and a lifelong member of Park Synagogue. Having wished to become a bat mitzvah as a girl, she finally accomplished this at age 93, stunning her family with a perfect chanting of her Torah and Haftorah portions. Renee later confessed that she’d learned the portions 80 years earlier, having helped her younger brother Lee study for his bar mitzvah.

Renee was a gifted athlete, playing tennis almost daily into her 90s. She was a disciplined person who exercised every morning of her life. Intellectual pursuits, though, were equally at her core; she never stopped learning, attending lectures, taking classes at Siegel College and through the Shaker Heights Recreation Department. Stacks of library books were a fixture wherever she lived. Renee was involved in electoral politics and volunteered for national and local Democratic candidates well into her 90s. She cared deeply about social justice and human suffering, and instilled a commitment to tikkun olam in her family.

Renee excelled at friendship, and it was her gift to others. She maintained a vast network of friends, ranging from childhood schoolmates to people she met through her global travels, welcoming new people into her life at every opportunity. Once within Renee’s orbit, one remained there, so much so that in her last years, when many of her peers’ lives were getting smaller, Renee’s seemed to inexorably expand. Even well into her 90s, Renee made new friends at the Greenbriar Apartments where she lived, joining in the formation of a play reading group among the residents and where she was a fixture at the pool.

Renee was a source of great inspiration for her family and friends. She imbued her children and grandchildren with a love of life, and she enthralled all who knew her with her unfailing optimism, unquenchable appetite for adventure and sport, her intellectual curiosity and appreciation for the arts, and her commitment to strengthening the bonds of family and community. Her recent years, crowded with cultural events, uproarious family times and travel to life cycle celebrations, were made inestimably easier by the support and companionship of her son Jay. All who knew her will miss her forever.

Donations in her memory can be made to the Allen M. Madorsky Memorial Fund of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, 1223 W. 6th St., Cleveland, OH 44113; Siegal Lifelong Learning, Thwing Center, Room 153, 11111 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106; or the Shaker Heights Public Library, 16500 Van Aken Blvd., Shaker Heights, OH 44120.