Amy Elizabeth Shenker

Amy was born in Chicago, IL, and, along with her sister Abby and brother Noah, spent her formative years in Evanston, IL. Always a passionate sports fan, Amy and her family would regularly attend Bears and Cubs games with her father, Dr. David Shenker. Her fanatical devotion to sports went to “11” when she enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1986, majoring in Political Science. She embraced being a Wolverine with great gusto and became a regular fixture at football games at the Big House, taking that passion with her to the very end. After graduating from Michigan in 1990, she received an M.A. in public policy from Georgetown University.

From there, she would join the public relations firm Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart, followed by Porter Novelli. Throughout her time at these firms, Amy helped to develop a slate of media campaigns aimed at raising awareness of the still-ballooning HIV and AIDS crisis. She eventually chose to leave her career in public relations to focus on raising her two beautiful children, Adam and Alyssa. Amy filled her home with a love of Judaism and Jewish culture and helped support the Jewish community around her through her active membership at Adat Shalom in Bethesda, Maryland. Some of her other passions included travel, Italian cooking, baking, and Taekwondo. She earned a black belt and later worked as an instructor of that discipline. Once her kids were away at college, she returned to public relations work, where she pushed for further recognition of labor unions - including for coal miners and merchant marines.

Amy was a singular person. She was tirelessly devoted not only to those close to her, but also to those she never met. Amy spoke up for those who were in pain or facing social inequity, driven not by personal ties, but by a deep sense of justice and responsibility. Whether it was in her advocacy work to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS or her work pushing for union rights, Amy showed a bottomless well of compassion, determination, and keen intellect in helping to give voice to those who felt marginalized or unheard.

She embodied the same compassion as a partner, mother, sister, granddaughter, aunt, friend, and member of the various communities she helped to foster. Always availing herself to those who needed her warm voice and careful listening, she provided a willing ear and rich insights to loved ones in search of guidance. Amy seemed to possess an endless supply of energy, a reserve that sustained her in her final hours and also defined how she approached the world throughout the course of her life. Rarely if ever daunted, she was a sturdy anchor for those in the midst of tumult.

She met her husband, Bill Kline, in a surprising way. While working towards her master’s degree at Georgetown, she found the time to volunteer at the education department of the yet-to-be-opened United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was there that she met Bill, who had been working as part of the museum’s architectural team. Their loving union blossomed from there.

Amy is survived by her husband, Bill (of thirty-two years); her son, Adam, and daughter, Alyssa; her mother, Judy Shenker; her sister, Abby Nimberg (James), and her brother, Noah (Daniella); and seven nieces and nephews, in addition to countless friends who were woven into the tapestry of Amy’s communal family. She will be dearly missed and most certainly never forgotten.