Marjorie Kaiz Offer

Marjorie Kaiz Offer, 77, of Mercer Island, Washington, passed away from lung cancer on Tuesday, April 7th.

She was born in Waukegan, Illinois on April 29th, 1942. Margie graduated from Waukegan High School. She then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University.

She was married twice - first to Louis Abraham in 1968 until his passing on June 8, 1975, and then to Dr. Daniel Offer. Daniel and Margie were wed on August 19, 1979 and shared 34 happy years together until his death on May 13, 2013.

Margie enjoyed a successful career both as an entrepreneur founding Famous Stores International, a customized corporate gift-giving business, and as a non-profit marketing executive for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Second City and Lambs Farm, in Libertyville, Illinois.

Later in life Margie pivoted to become an academic researcher, co-authoring the resulting book “Regular Guys” with Daniel Offer (Springer Publishing, 2004). Subsequently, she wrote “Dialysis Without Fear: A Guide to Living Well on Dialysis for Patients and Their Families” with Daniel whom she lovingly cared for over his fourteen years on dialysis and their daughter Susan Offer Szafir (Oxford University Press, 2007). She then self-published a photographic auto-biography entitled “Saving My Life.”

Margie was a member of the board of directors for various charities, most notably the American Associates of Ben-Gurion University, where she worked tirelessly to support scientific and adolescent research. When not supporting causes, Margie hiked and travelled the world - no corner left untouched! Throughout those trips and in her adopted late-in-life home of Mercer Island, Margie also made and cherished countless friends. This was a fundamental part of her DNA and her family knew of no-one who took more of an interest in, and bonded with, people faster. She made it her mission to help the world and spread good cheer and touched many lives in the process.

Of her many accomplishments, she was most proud of the family she had built. She is survived by her children, Raphael Offer and his wife Stacey, Tamar Yehoshua and her partner Ilya Eliashberg, Susan Szafir and her husband Ariel and her grandchildren Shir and Ron Yehoshua, Isabelle and Chloe Offer and Liliana and Stella Szafir. Margie is also survived by her brother Gerald Kaiz and his wife Geraldine.

A virtual memorial service was held the morning of Sunday, April 12th. Look below in the donation section for a link to view the recording.

If you wish to make a donation in memory of Margie, the family requests you give to American Associates, Ben Gurion University of the Negev.