Sima Jelin, philanthropist and champion of Jewish causes, Vice-President of real estate firm The Kislak Company Inc., died of cancer peacefully at her home on Saturday, June 12 in Maplewood, New Jersey. She was 89. Jelin was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on September 13, 1920 to Julius and Sophia Kislak. Nearly two decades before her birth, her Russian immigrant father turned New Jersey real estate tycoon had founded the Kislak Organization, a firm that went from Kislak’s walking door-to-door to a thriving business that now employs over 1,000, primarily in New Jersey and Florida.
Sima graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1941 with a BA in Economics. After obtaining a real estate license from Rutgers-Newark in 1969, and at the request of her father, Sima began work at Kislak, where she proved her excellence as an integral part of the Kislak Company for the next four decades, noted as much for her business acumen as for her famously infectious spirit. Sima also served as chairman of the board of Karnak Corporation, a manufacturing company started by her first husband Martin Jelin and now run by her daughter, Sarah Jane Jelin.
Never taking her success for granted, Sima devoted much of her time, effort, and resources to Jewish causes, becoming both a strong leader and a beloved matriarch in her community. When mentoring aspiring salespeople, she advised them, “to make lots of money and then give it to UJA.” The Jewish Journal recently published an article written by Sima, recounting what it was like to marry old traditions with new ones by watching her great grandson’s California Bris on Skype from 3,000 miles away.
The many boards and organizations Sima served on include her work with the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center; NJ YMHA-YWHA summer camps for seniors; the Newark Emergency Services for Families; Technion, the Israel institute of technology; Jewish Community Housing Corporation; and the Jewish Community Foundation of Metro West and Palm Beach, Florida.
A staunch believer in Jewish education, she was instrumental in the 1996 establishment of Rutgers University’s Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, serving as vice chair of the Center’s campaign. In 2006, Sima and her siblings established the Kislak Real Estate Institute at Monmouth University in West Long Branch through a $2 million donation to the university – the first and only undergraduate real estate degree program in New Jersey – to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of The Kislak Company.
Her most recent philanthropic passion was the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, created when Newark Beth Israel Medical Center was sold in 1996. As vice-chair, Sima promoted a number of healthcare grants to serve vulnerable residents of the greater Newark area and at-risk members in the Metro West Jewish community.
In addition to her many and storied professional and philanthropic endeavors, Sima’s greatest satisfaction came from her beloved family: her six children, 15 grandchildren, two great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Since she liked to brag, her daughter Sarah Jane and her son Fred are both lawyers, her daughter Deb is a Hollywood television and film producer, her son Bram is a pediatric gastroenterologist, her son Billy was a business tycoon, and her daughter Anne worked in two family businesses.
Among her grandchildren, she is lovingly remembered by a surgeon, a Peace Corps volunteer, a green-world activist, a financial officer, a mother, a disaster-management graduate student, a Middle-East peace activist, a comedian, a developing-world advocate, a subject of a best-selling book, a math prodigy, a one-man party, a fashion-forward student and an adorable seven-year-old rascal.
Sima always surrounded herself with great men: from her father and her two younger brothers to her first husband, Martin Jelin, to whom she was married for 47 years. She was married to her second husband, Cecil Lichtman, from 1991 until his death in1999. At the time of her death, Sima had been happily married to Sidney Weinstein, a former president of the Jewish Community Council of Essex County, a forerunner of UJC MetroWest, for nearly a decade.
Sima was celebrated throughout Essex County, Palm Beach County, and around the world for her inspiring generosity, her expertise on social life and style, and her charismatic interest in liberal causes. Still going to the office at the age of 89, Sima tirelessly worked for the causes and the people she loved. Throughout her recent illness, she was never one to take herself to the bed, rather, she would go to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Now Sima is in the beyond, but surely with her collection of 20 percent off coupons.
She was predeceased by her husbands, Martin Jelin and Cecil Lichtman, her son William Jelin, and her sister Naomi Fisher-Bartnoff.
She is survived by her beloved husband Sidney Weinstein, two sons, Abraham and Frederick Jelin, three daughters, Anne Jelin, Sarah Jane Jelin and Deborah Newmyer, two brothers, Jay and David Kislak, and 15 grandchildren, Sandra Plouffe, Eric Jelin, Ben Jelin, Bessie Schwarz, Jacob Schwarz, Marty Schwarz, Willa Schwarz, Sofi Newmyer, Teddy Newmyer, James Newmyer, Billi Newmyer, Josh Jelin, Sammy Jelin, James Jelin and Joey Jelin, and two great-grandchildren, Sylvie Plouffe and Max Jelin.
Funeral services will be held 10:00 am on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at Temple Sharey-Tefilo Israel, 432 Scotland Road, South Orange, NJ. Burial will follow at Beth Israel Cemetery in Woodbridge. Arrangements by, Bernheim-Apter-Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Chapel of Livingston (973) 422-0600.
Shiva will be held at the home of Sarah Jane Jelin and Edward Schwarz at 4 Halsey Place, South Orange, NJ.
Memorial contributions may be made to Sima Jelin Fund for Inter-Cultural Tolerance at the American Jewish Committee 225 Millburn Ave. Millburn, NJ 07041.
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