Selma was pre-deceased by her loving husband Harold, her parents Isidore and Jennie Levy, her daughter Karen Latner and her sister Claire Deitchman.
She is survived by her children, Gail Birnbaum (Murray) and Irwin Latner (Alissa), and her loving grandchildren, Benjamin (Arpita), Maxwell and Carly Latner.
In addition to being a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt and grandmother, Selma was a mentor and friend to many people in the course of her long and full life. She was an early practitioner of alternative medicine, transcendental meditation and other healthy living practices. Selma also had a passion for dancing and tennis and was a devoted Nana to her three grandchildren.
In her professional life, Selma was a trailblazer becoming only one of three women to receive a Masters in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work in 1945 and eventually earning her doctorate in Psychoanalysis from Heed University in 1984. She was a distinguished Psychoanalyst with a specialization in the field of Eating Disorders. Among her many affiliations, Selma was licensed and certified as a Social Worker, a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Psychoanalyst, a Group Psychotherapist, and an Eating Disorders Specialist. She was a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the NJ Society of Clinical Social Workers, the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis and the American Boards of Certification and Accreditation, the American Anorexia//Bulimia Association (AABA), the Academy for Eating Disorders and the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals.
In 1991 Selma received two awards (state and national) for recognition and outstanding contributions to the treatment of patients with eating disorders, and in 1994 she received an honorary award for distinguished service from the AABA. In 2015 the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Race and Social Problems (CRSP) honored Selma for her historically relevant 1945 Masters thesis on racial disparities in the Pittsburgh area as well as her numerous achievements and pioneering work in the field of social work by naming one of the CRSP Fellowships the Selma Levy Latner Fellowship in Race and Social Problems.
Funeral service will take place at Gutterman and Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors, 402 Park Street, Hackensack, NJ on Thursday, January 27, 2022.
If you are unable to attend the funeral service then you may watch the live webcast of the service. Please contact the funeral home for the webcast information or go to the funeral home website for the details for the webcast: www.guttermanmusicantwien.com.
One of Selma's proudest accomplishments was her work counseling and helping people suffering from eating disorders. Therefore, donations can be made in her memory to the National Eating Disorders Association www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.guttermanandmusicant.com for the Latner family.
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