Maya Gershkovich

Born in Kishinev, Moldova, to Sabina and Moisey Bounfeld, Maya studied gymnastics and table tennis in her youth, disciplines that seemed to shape the grace and resolve she carried throughout her life. At just 24, she came to America with Alex and their three-year-old son, Oleg, bound by a shared dream, $300, and a fierce belief in hard work. Hers was the quintessential immigrant story and the true fulfillment of the American dream.

For decades Maya worked as a paralegal in Center City, Philadelphia, where her broad general knowledge, procedural legal insight, and expertise were matched by an affable nature and sharp business acumen. She spent her entire career alongside Manuel Spigler, and their professional partnership grew into a true and lasting friendship.

Maya was the center of her community. Friends and family turned to her for solid advice and a calm voice of reason on everything from business to relationships. She believed deeply in education and the value of hard work, and she gave her sons, Oleg and Phil, every foundation they needed to succeed.

Family and friends will remember her kitchen, always immaculate, with every dish a masterpiece. From Jewish classics like farshirovannye sheiki to Moldovan mămăligă and Georgian khachapuri, her cooking was simply on another level.

Maya was beautiful, inside and out. She loved the beach and a good book, and in earlier years she loved nothing more than a night out at the Russian restaurants of Philadelphia and New York, enjoying great food with family and friends and dancing the night away. She traveled widely, delighting in cruises and European vacations. Yet her most treasured moments were mornings on the beach in Margate City, New Jersey, with her beloved children and grandchildren.

Through decades of illness, Maya never once complained. She met every hardship with incredible strength and quiet dignity, and those who loved her drew strength from her example.

She is survived by Alex Gershkovich, her husband of 50 years and the love of her life; her son Oleg and his wife, Tatyana; her son Philip and his wife, Candace; her older sister, Lilia, and her husband, Alexander Levitz; and her grandchildren, Aaron, Basil, Josh, and Eli, who knew her as their adoring Babushka.

May her memory live on through the generations in the stories of her courage and love.

A Funeral Service will be held at Lamb Funeral Home Inc., 101 Byberry Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, on October 13, 2026, from 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm, followed by the burial at Shalom Memorial Park, 25 Byberry Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.