Barbara Toba Edelstein

Born Barbara Toba Boxman on June 30, 1939 she was the third of four children born to Harry (a kosher butcher) and Alice Boxman in Detroit, Michigan. Sadly, Barbara’s brother Robert passed when she was very young. She grew up as the middle child between two brothers--Donald, the eldest and her younger brother Melvin--whom she no doubt kept in line under threat of her skills as a camp counselor archery teacher. While attending Vassar as a Russian Language major, Barbara met her husband Arnold through her roommate’s boyfriend. Their first date was at the Vassar Winter Carnival. After Vassar, Barbara served her country as a translator for the CIA in Washington, DC during the height of the Cold War, while Arnold served in the Army in Virginia.

When Arnold was honorably discharged, the couple married in Detroit and promptly moved to Berkely, CA where Barbara continued her translation work for a government contractor. In 1969, while expecting their first child, they moved to Honolulu where they welcomed their eldest son David. Barbara raised David in their new home while Arnold taught at the University of Hawaiʻi. Their second son Joshua was born in 1972. In 1978, when her children were old enough to be latchkey kids, she began studying Chinese language just for fun, and then in 1980 the couple whisked the family away to China for two years where Barbara taught English language classes while Arnold taught American Literature. They would return to China for another year in 1985.

When the family returned to Hawaiʻi, Barbara pursued her MBA at the UH Business School (now the Shidler College of Business). Upon graduating, Barbara made the most of her degree supporting the Business School as the founding Administrator for the Pacific Asian Management Institute and as a delegate to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. She also explored her artistic interests making unique woven beaded necklaces as a member of the Gallery at Ward Center in Honolulu, one of the many places she sold and displayed her work. On retiring from the University, Barbara continued to create her necklaces, while finding plenty of time to travel extensively with her beloved husband, Arnold.

Barbara was an active member of the Temple Emanu-El community, where her two sons celebrated their bar mitzvahs. Over her longtime involvement with the community, she served in each Board position for the Temple Sisterhood, as well as using her MBA to rework their accounting system.

Barbara passed after a long battle with dementia. She is survived by Arnold, David and his wife Becky, Joshua and his wife Kathy, and her granddaughter Zora (daughter of son David). She was kind, whip-smart, mischievous, funny, a little vain and materialistic, generous, inquisitive and loving—and these qualities continued to shine through long after she’d forgotten how she knew those around her. She will be missed, and she will always be loved.