Elizabeth Baum

Liz was born on August 19th, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York to Norma and Arnold Korman. Raised on Avenue N and East 4th Street, she was the proud graduate of Lafayette High School and Brooklyn College. It was at Lafayette where she first met Leonard Baum, whom she would later marry at Union Temple, where her father was synagogue president.

After a few years as a math teacher at Tilden High School in Brooklyn, and a stint at NYU, where she worked on one of the earliest BINAC computers, she threw herself into being a wife and mother. She and Len welcomed daughter Jennifer in 1966, son Douglas in 1968, and then moved to Merrick, Long Island, where they had David in 1972.

Liz’s kids remember the summers spent at their mom’s beloved Chichester, NY summer cabin, hand built by her father. While Len spent his hours trout-fishing, she took the children berry picking, spent hours by the brook, helped them sell worms at the local general store, and perfected the art of antiquing.

In 1997, their nest empty, Liz and Len built their dream home atop a hill in Chappaqua, where she cultivated beautiful gardens in the summer, and exquisite orchids in the winter. Their home was the site of most every Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashanah, and Passover thereafter. Nothing brought her more joy than to watch her family gather around the table.

Liz was a survivor- outliving everyone’s expectations of a multiple myeloma diagnosis 20+ years ago, then taking on and beating a second cancer diagnosis. Throughout her treatments she rarely complained and never wanted to bother anyone else with her needs- she was always laser focused on her children and grandchildren, not herself.

She was a voracious reader, a fastidious knitter, and an adventurous traveler, making good on her goal to climb the Great Wall of China — though she most loved the pink sands of Harbour Island in the Bahamas. She was never without a pack of M&Ms, making 3-4 last up to an hour, and loved nothing more than a dinner of jelly donuts or chocolate chip pancakes.

In 1993, she became a Nana, welcoming her first grandchild, Sarah — and then Emily, Ben, and Maiya in 1999, Aaron in 2002, Auden in 2021, and Felix in 2023.

She was as devoted a grandmother one could have asked for. She never said no to one more book before bed-time, turned down ice cream for breakfast, or tired of marathon hide-and-seek sessions. She was always the first to call on birthdays, despite never wanting to celebrate her own. There were always enough afikomen for each child to find, and there are rumors of $20 bills to find in her vast library to carry the tradition forward. And she never, not once, hung up the phone first.

Elizabeth died 20 days after her husband, Leonard, and 6 days after what would have been their 63rd wedding anniversary. She is survived by her children, Dr. Jennifer Gruen (David), Douglas Baum (Heather), and David Baum (Tilly Macalister-Smith); her grandchildren, Sarah, Emily, Aaron, Ben, Maiya, Auden, and Felix; and her dog, Winston, who was by far her favorite child. May her memory forever be a blessing.

Funeral services will be a private family event. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you consider a donation to Reach out and Read (https://reachoutandread.org/) in honor of the many bedtime stories read to her grandchildren.