Helene (“Helen”) Rose Siegel of The Villages, Florida passed away on October 17, 2020 at age 81. She was born April 1, 1939 in Antwerp, Belgium, an only child of Henry and Anna Rosenbluth (nee Kaner). After her family was denied entrance to the U.S. as refugees in 1941, she survived WWII in Belgium as a hidden child until 1946, when she was reunited with her parents—her father had escaped a concentration camp in France while her mother hid with Henry’s mother in Brussels. At age 11, her family relocated to Buenos Aires, Argentina and she later emigrated to Atlanta, GA at age 20, where she worked with Young Judea and related organizations raising funds for the State of Israel. In the early 1960s, she transitioned to New York City and, briefly, to Israel before settling down and becoming an America citizen in New Jersey. Fluent in eight languages (French, German, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Hebrew, Yiddish, and English—she joked that she had no mother tongue and spoke French with a Dutch accent and German with a French accent, and English with an accent from everywhere), she put herself through college while working full time and earned her Bachelors degree from Thomas Edison State University.
Helene began working as an accountant in the late 1970s and, in 1981, began a nearly 30-year career at Appliance Dealers’ Cooperative, a major home appliance buying group for mom-and-pop retailers, where she served as Executive Director and CEO until she retired in 2010. During her tenure, she grew ADC from 28 members in NJ to over 140 members across eight states, expanding sales tenfold to $250M. She financed and built warehouses, developed a sizeable trucking fleet, and helped establish a multi-buying group alliance that brought billion-dollar buying power to small businesses. She was one of the top female executives in the home appliance industry.
On the home front, as a divorced single mother, she put both her children through college and was a devoted caregiver to her parents, who lived in Queens, New York from the early 1960s until they passed in the mid-2000s. Helene relocated to The Villages in 2012, where she became an enthusiastic golfer and bridge player, frequently hosting her grandchildren—whom she taught to drive her golf cart around town.
Helene was a beloved mother, grandmother, aunt, cousin, cat enthusiast, and friend. Surviving her are her two children: son Yanai Siegel (Gail, Z”L) and daughter Sari Siegel Spieler (Barry), grandchildren Naomi Siegel and Spencer Siegel of Marlboro, NJ; David Spieler and Hannah Spieler of Camp Hill, PA and University Park, MD; and step-grandsons Gabriel Spieler (Fernanda) of Nashville, TN; and Daniel Spieler of Austin, TX.
Burial will be at Beth Israel Memorial Park in Woodbridge, NJ. Shiva will be observed at the Siegel residence in Marlboro, NJ through Wednesday; Thursday at the Spieler residence in Camp Hill, PA; and Friday in University Park, MD. A memorial service will be held at Banks Page-Theus Funeral Home in Wildwood, FL on Monday, October 26 at 1pm. Please reach out to Sari Siegel Spieler to access the shivas or memorial service remotely.
Memorial contributions in her honor may be made to the American Cancer Society (https://donate3.cancer.org/) or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (www.ASPCA.org).
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