Caryn Landy

Caryn Sue Landy of Chicago, Illinois, passed away on Thursday, March 12th, in Thousand Oaks, California at the age of 77. Caryn was the devoted mother of Nina Cole (Randy), Joe Lachoff (Patti), Leah Silbert (Tony), Ana Kaplan (Greg), and Ben Lachoff (Hilary); the supportive and loving grandmother of Angel Celambrino, Olivia Lopes, Talon Borwick, Karin Vacakis, Nick Vacakis, Jordan Lachoff, Stella Silbert, Asher Lachoff, Bram Silbert, and Henry Vacakis; and the adoring great-grandmother of Nate Celambrino and Alyssa Celambrino. Caryn was predeceased by her parents, Nathan and Betty Landy. She is survived by her sisters Phyllis de Picciotto (Stan) and Linda Goldsman (Louis).

Caryn lived a remarkable life, focused on caring for others and the determined pursuit of knowledge. She grew up in Chicago, the middle child of a single mom, Betty. Caryn’s father, Nate, passed away when she was just 8 years old. Caryn moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s and attended Fairfax High School, then Sacramento State University. She met and married Larry Lachoff in 1963 and they had five children together. After their separation, Caryn cared for her children as a single mom. She provided a loving home and food on the table by working tirelessly as a taxi driver and ultimately completing her Bachelor’s degree at UC San Diego in 1992.

After her youngest child, Ben, went off to college, Caryn decided to fulfill a longstanding desire for a more formal Jewish education. She went on to earn an MA in Jewish Studies from the Lieber School of Judaic Studies at the University of Judaism, and an MFT from Phillips Graduate Institute. Caryn served as a marriage and family therapist for 13 years, always going above and beyond to help others with compassion and empathy. She was profoundly spiritual and had a deep and enduring love of Judaism. She loved her family most of all, and celebrating holidays and family events brought her great joy. She continued to be the grand matriarch of her expanding family, loving unconditionally and providing loads of both solicited and unsolicited advice. She was smart, courageous, funny, driven, tenacious, loving, forgiving, and a darn good sport. She will be deeply missed.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Caryn’s honor to the Child & Family Center, 21545 Centre Pointe Parkway, Santa Clarita, CA 91350, https://www.childfamilycenter.org/, or National Network to End Domestic Violence, 1325 Massachusetts Ave. NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20005-4188, https://nnedv.org/.