Jamie Lu Kreiman

Jamie Kreiman, of Hillsdale NJ, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family and friends. Born in 1953 in Duluth MN to Beti and Mel, Jamie grew up as part of a large extended family just blocks apart and spent her summers at Herzl Camp in Webster WI. She would later move to Minneapolis to earn a bachelors in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota, spending her junior year abroad at Hebrew University in Israel, where the Yom Kippur War would break out later that same year. She remained a fierce Zionist all her life. Jamie then pursued a masters in Social Work from Yeshiva University in New York City, where she would later meet the love of her life, Ike Gavzy. The two were happily married for 27 years, practicing tikkun olam, raising their son Sam and various Schnauzer children, and traveling the world before Ike’s passing in 2011.

Professionally, Jamie first worked to help re-settle migrant families in the Minneapolis area with Jewish Family Services and later as a clinical social worker at Blythedale Children’s Hospital, where she worked tirelessly for 41 years. Service is written into Jamie’s DNA and that of her family, carrying a spark and joy for caring for others at work and in her community through decades of service to her synagogue, Congregation B’nai Israel. With a natural warmth, Jamie always managed to connect with people no matter where she was in the world.

The funeral will be held on Sunday Dec 24, at 12:30PM at Congregation B'nai Israel (53 Palisade Avenue, Emerson, NJ, 07630), followed by interment at Cedar Park/Beth El Cemetery in Paramus. A livestream of the service will be available at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/mw8jrarp.

Those attending should begin arriving 11:45 AM Sunday at Cong. Bani' Israel for ample time to pay respects to the family.

The family requests that any donations people wish to make in Jamie's honor and memory be made to Magen David Adom (https://afmda.org), Herzl Camp (https://herzlcamp.org), her synagogue (https://www.bisrael.com), or Blythedale Children’s Hospital (https://www.blythedale.org).