Frieda (Fritzie) Alter died on Tuesday, February 25, 2020, at the age of 98. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 62 years, Moses (Mo). Fritzie’s children were her pride and joy, including her son Dr. Steven Alter (Linda), her daughter Nadine Barocas (Lou) and her twin sons Michael and Dr. Robert Alter (Sherry). Fritzie cherished her grandchildren Aimee Doyne (Scott), Joshua Barocas (Cari), and Emily Alter and delighted in her great-grandchildren Brandon and Sophie Doyne and Austin and Summer Barocas.
Her mother and father were immigrants from Europe. Her father initially worked as an itinerate peddler and then joined a family business in Montreal producing women’s clothes. When Fritzie was a baby, she and her brother and sister moved with their parents to Hempstead, New York, where she grew up above the family store. Fritzie later moved to Miami Beach with her parents and earned her BA degree at the University of Miami. She met Mo when he accompanied a friend who was visiting her parents while he was serving in the Army during WWII. While raising her four children, Fritzie also helped her husband run a store in Miami. She became a substitute teacher after the store was sold and worked as an elementary school reading teacher until she retired. In 1953, she and Mo bought a house in Coral Gables where she lived until 2013 when she moved to The Palace in Coral Gables, an independent living facility.
Fritzie strongly identified with Judaism and was a member of the Beth David Congregation for more than 60 years. She was the Program Chair and produced the newsletter for the Technion Society in South Florida for many years. Fritzie and Mo visited Israel numerous times where they got to know Mo’s cousin, a Holocaust survivor, and his family. His cousin was also named Moses after their common grandfather. Fritzie supported the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the American Technion Society, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the World Jewish Congress, StandWithUs, ZOA, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), The Jewish Museum of Florida (FIU) and many other organizations affiliated with the Jewish community and Israel.
After moving to The Palace, Fritzie became an enthusiastic writer and contributor to the Palace Newsletter, sharing many stories about family and friends that she hoped would give her grandchildren and great grandchildren a greater understanding of her life, so different from their own. Her parents would have been amazed and proud of the life she chronicled.
Contributions in honor of Fritzie may be made to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the American Technion Society of South Florida, the Beth David Congregation, the Jewish Museum of Florida (FIU) or a charity of your choice. Chapel services will be at 2:00 PM, Thursday, February 27, 2020 at the Riverside Gordon Memorial Chapel at Mount Nebo in Kendall, 5900 SW 77th Ave., Miami 33143, (305) 274-0641. Shiva will be held at The Palace, 1 Andalusia Ave, Coral Gables on Thursday, immediately following interment.
