Jale Turcihin

Beloved grandmother to Ayla and Leyla Stern. Loving mother to Olya. Predeceased by her husband and love of her life Ilusha, her cherished daughter Lelya, and brothers Mois and Mordo. Also survived by most loved sons-in-law Al Stern, Sten Evenhouse, and Alan Lupiani, many nieces and nephews all over the world and loved by so many.

Born in Istanbul in 1936, graduate of Robert College of Istanbul and Ecole Lemania, Lausanne, Switzerland. She proudly worked for decades at Mobil Oil (now ExxonMobil), at first in Istanbul, and later in midtown Manhattan in NYC. Moved to New York from Istanbul in 1967, and was one of the pioneers to move to Roosevelt Island in 1977, which reminded her of living on the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

An avid daily reader of the New York Times who was always fashionably dressed, often in cashmere, and full of wit, humor and abundant amounts of love. Although she moved to New York more than five decades ago, she visited Istanbul many times since, including most recently in 2019 and never lost touch with her birthplace. Her fondest memories of her youth included climbing trees, eating fruit from her family garden, the lifelong friends she made at boarding school and the beautiful family she created after meeting and falling in love with her husband, Ilusha. She was an excellent Turkish Sephardic cook, spoke Turkish, and Ladino as well as English, French and Spanish.

A graveside service for Jale will be held Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 11:00 AM at Beth Olam Cemetery, 2 Cypress Hills Street, Brooklyn, NY 11208.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.riversidememorialchapel.com for the Turcihin family.