Sharon Mansfield Weinstein passed away at 90 years old.  She is survived by her four children and their spouses, Jeffrey (Bobbi), Judy Blumert (Stephen), Drs. Gregory (Susan), Pamela Sherman (Neal) and her 7 grandchildren and their spouses, Matthew and Heather Blumert, Jessica and Jesse Goldstein, Amanda and Vince Gitto, Zachary Sherman, Eliza Sherman, Jake Weinstein, and Luke Weinstein, and her 5 great grandchildren, Jace Blumert, Hayden Blumert, Austin Blumert, Eloise Goldstein, and Blair Goldstein.

She was born and raised on Staten Island and was a proud honors graduate of Tottenville High School. She attended Hunter College, where she was a member of the Alpha Chapter of Phi Sigma Sigma. She received her Master’s in Education, focusing on remedial reading from the College of Staten Island.  After a career as a teacher she studied at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis and became a licensed psychotherapist practicing for over 40 years until she retired at age 86.

She met her husband, Dr. William Weinstein, as a child and they married when she graduated from Hunter College and moved to Bern, Switzerland where he was attending Medical School.  They settled on Staten Island, where he practiced as an Ob/Gyn. They were married for over 51 years and had a deep love for each other. They traveled the world together and with their many friends. Upon his passing she continued to travel, work, and connect to her community.  Most recently, she was a resident of Laurel Circle in Bridgewater, N.J., where she thrived in her new community playing bridge and being the overall life of the senior living party.

She was a remarkable woman with unbounded energy filled with passion for life. She loved being surrounded by people, especially her dear friends; fashion and of course, shopping; culture, including Broadway, the symphony, and museums; and great food which she loved to cook, and eat (except when on a diet). She was an exceptional and talented artist, specializing in still life painting.  But most of all, she experienced the full range of human emotions and fiercely loved her family. She lived a blessed life and blessed many with her presence.

Funeral services officiated by Rabbi Arnold S. Gluck will take place virtually on Friday, December 11, 2020 from 9:30-10:15 a.m. Please click HERE to be taken to the virtual service. If you are having difficulty, please copy this link and paste it into a new browser: https://tinyurl.com/Remembering-Sharon-Weinstein.

Private graveside funeral services for the immediate family only will follow at United Hebrew Cemetery, 122 Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island, NY, under the care and direction of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ. IMPORTANT: Due to current gathering restrictions, graveside services are PRIVATE. Please, out of respect, do not come to the cemetery. 

Shiva will be virtual according to the following schedule; please note a religious service will take place during the first fifteen minutes of each shiva period and all are welcomed to attend, regardless of faith background:

Saturday, December 12, 2020, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Please click HERE to be taken to the virtual shiva on Saturday evening. If you are having difficulty, please copy this link and paste it into a new browser: https://tinyurl.com/Remembering-Sharon-Weinstein.

Sunday, December 13, 2020, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Please click HERE to be taken to the virtual shiva on Sunday afternoon. If you are having difficulty, please copy this link and paste it into a new browser: https://tinyurl.com/Remembering-Sharon-Weinstein.

At these times, memories and stories are of extreme importance. Please visit Sharon’s permanent life celebration site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a candle of hope, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of her life.

As is customary in the Jewish faith, no flowers please. Following in their parents philanthropic dispositions, Sharon’s children have each put forth a charity that they wish you to consider making a contrition to in their mother’s honor and memory. Any and all contributions are greatly appreciated by the family and they feel that Sharon would approve of all the good works of the following:

~Judy and Stephen Blumert request contributions to the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, 485 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10301 (or online by clicking HERE).

~Jeff and Bobbi Weinstein request contributions to Hunterdon Hospice, in appreciation of the phenomenal care given to Sharon. Donations may be mailed to Hunterdon Hospice, 9100 Wescott Drive, Suite 202, Flemington, NJ 08822 (or online by clicking HERE).

~Drs. Greg and Sue Weinstein kindly suggest contributions to The William Weinstein Scholarship Fund, attn: Adrienne Butler, SIUH Department of Ob/Gyn, 475 Seaview Avenue, 2^nd Floor Staten Island, NY 10305.

~Pam and Neal Sherman thoughtfully ask for contributions to Jewish Women International, 1129 20th Street NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20026 (or online by clicking HERE).

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Following are words of loving remembrance by those who knew her best, as delivered by them at Sharon’s funeral service. May her memory be eternal and for a blessing!

Judy Blumert: 

When I think of my mother I think of a Renaissance person. She could do it all and she did it well. She was a painter, a knitter, and a chef. She excelled in whatever she chose to do. She was intelligent and could make things right when they were wrong.

Her famous statement was that if you are overwhelmed clean the bathroom, be productive. She believed in the power of love and strength. She loved her children and their families but could be a mother bear if she needed to protect those she loved. In my family she was lucky to have 5 great grandchildren. She would always ask about them and wanted to know what they were up to. Oh Jace loves science he is going to be like his great Pop-Pop, oh Eloise loves to paint she has my talents. She loved talking to them and hearing their stories the same way she did as we all grew up. She will always be loved and remembered as a strong wonderful loving person who could pick you up when you were down. I know that somewhere she is dancing with my father.

Stephen Blumert:

I never realized how important a fleeting first impression can be, coloring a lifetime relationship. The first time that I ever spoke to Sharon, Judy had just handed me the phone and said, “Here, talk to my mother,” so I said “Hi Mom” and we started chatting. We hung up and the phone rang less than a few seconds later. Judy took the call in another room. It was Sharon calling back to say “He called me Mom.” I think that is what started our life long love affair. She always treated me like one of the children, sometimes better because we did not have to work through all that childhood angst. In preparing this I went through my photos looking for captures of Sharon with the family. I noticed that most of the shots were of family occasions. Sharon would be at the center of the action and the entire family radiated out from her. She was our center and kept us grounded. I think that her favorite phrase was “What fun.” I heard her say that so many times when we all got together. Of course there was adversity but in sum her focus was to make sure that we all enjoyed ourselves and each other. We shall miss her.

Jeff Weinstein:

My mom was a very proud and giving person. Her pride was not about herself and her many accomplishments, but instead it was for the accomplishments of her children and grandchildren.

When I look at what I and my sisters and brother have achieved in life, I realize that none of it would have been possible without my mom and my dad as our role models and cheerleaders.

As a young woman, my mom traveled from the farthest part of Staten Island—Tottenville—to Manhattan daily, to attend Hunter College. My grandfather had told her she could attend college as long as it was free, so she did. She studied to be a teacher. During this time, she met many ladies who became sorority sisters and lifelong friends, including one who married my uncle, and became my aunt Muriel.

I realized how important these friends, and others, were, as I reached out in the last few days to let them know of her passing. I took personal comfort in hearing the wonderful things shared by them, many who knew her for most of her lifetime.

After graduating Hunter with a degree in education, my mom married my dad. They had known each other most of their lives. She and my dad embarked on what would be a lifetime of love and travel adventures. They immediately moved to Bern, Switzerland, where my dad was a medical student. My mom got her first teaching job in Bern, teaching children from English speaking embassies in a one room schoolhouse. My mom did this until my twin sister and I were born. I heard her tell the story many times on how they handed her two babies to hold and mother, and her fear as she had never even held one baby. Well, clearly she was a natural, as she raised four of us to be successful and accomplished individuals.

My mom went back to teaching after we all were a little older, first as a sub, and then as a classroom teacher. I can tell you, most of you have not had the experience of having your mom show up as your substitute teacher. Try not raising your hand and calling out, “Mom.”

After many years of teaching, my mother decided, in her forties, to change careers. She went back to school to become a psychotherapist. She practiced until she was 86, seeing her last patient on the day she moved from her longtime home on Staten Island to Laurel Circle. This move did not slow her down, as she made many new friends, got involved in her new community, and continued her love of theater by organizing outings to NYC to see Broadway shows.

Theater, fine dining, and travel were a very important part of my mom’s life, and she shared this passion with all of us. She and my dad loved taking us as children to the theater, and she continued that tradition, taking all of her grandchildren as well.

When Rabbi Gluck asked us to summarize her life, I told him he will see the inscription on my dad’s headstone reads, “I had a good time.” One of my sisters said we should put on mom’s, “I did it with him.” I think that sums it up. She loved life, lived it to her fullest, and took great pride in teaching all of us to do the same.

Dr. Gregory Weinstein:

What can I tell you about my mother and how she impacted my life?  A couple of years ago I met a  woman in her 80s while playing squash at our club.  Somehow Sue and I ended up taking her out to dinner one evening down the shore.  Well, she told us about her lawyer son in his 50s and bemoaned the fact that she had to fully support him and he really hardly did any work and she even paid for his psychiatry bills.  The next day I called mom on the phone.  I told her the story and I said “Mom, when I was growing up you were always there supporting me, particularly in high school when I needed you most.  You taught me self-reliance, encouraged my independence and encouraged me to excel in my work and to always work hard , all the while being supportive and kind. I just want to say Mom, thank you and I want to let you know that you achieved your goals.” Then I joked “ In fact, unlike that woman’s son if I want to see a psychiatrist, I can pay for it myself! So thanks. “ Her affectionate response was, “Well, it’s about time.” We had a good laugh and she said she was so proud of me.

Another amazing quality was her ability to see my strengths and foster them in me and in doing so create the foundation for future success.  Let me give you an example.  So I have always had a memory from when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old of being in an art class at school and a group of women walking over and saying how nice my painting was.  The next thing you know my painting was being shown in a children’s art show in Manhattan at the Lever House on Park Avenue.  So from then on I was enrolled in weekend art classes at local art studios.  When other buddies were doing sports on the weekends, I was painting and drawing!  I guess I liked it because I didn’t object.  Fast forward 20 years and I ended up collaborating with a French surgeon during my residency on two major academic surgical papers primarily because of my medical illustrations for the articles.  Recently Pam sent me a shoebox full of old pictures from our childhood and there it was a picture of me standing next to  dad and my painting in the Lever House.  My mom saw my ability and fostered it and oddly enough it my art that jump started my academic career in medicine.

My mother showed me the model of a great relationship in a marriage.  She really loved her husband and sadly never got over his loss.  But one thing I recall her saying over and over when I was growing up was that marriage is the hardest work you will ever do. But it dawned me recently I never asked her what that work was.    At her last birthday I said “Mom, you always told me that marriage is the hardest work you will ever do but you never told me what that work was.”  She said, and I paraphrase, because I can’t remember the exact conversation but it went something like this.  “Put the needs of your spouse before your own.”  “Well”, I said “you know you never actually told me that before, but oddly enough a few years ago I eventually figured it out on my own.  I guess  I learned by your example, huh.”  She said “I had no doubt you would eventually figure it out!”

David Hofstadter  in his great book about consciousness called I am a Strange Loop noted that when his wife died her consciousness continued to  live on embedded in his in his conscious thoughts.  I have no doubt mom you are still with me, right up here and right here.

There is story about a famous 16^th century Rabbi from Safed who was known as Ramak.  He believed the route for holiness was not through following several hundred rabbinic rules of does and don’ts but rather to develop one’s character. This is the basis of the Mussar tradition. It happens that Ramak’s famous book Tomer Devorah was translated into English recently by my leadership coach. She has been teaching me some of his ideas.   Ramak felt that among the most important character traits was g-d-like forbearance even when, or maybe especially when the other person least deserves it.   Even, at various points in my 62 years,  when any other rational parent would have given up on me, you never did, you personified forgiveness.  You taught me the meaning of love, kindness, devotion and most of all, forbearance and for this I am eternally grateful.

Pam Sherman:

I’m the youngest of the four incredible people my parents made together – and I’m honored to pay tribute to our Mom and her legacy.

I was thinking that normally when I hear the term “the greatest generation” I too often think of the men who fought in WWII, men like my mother’s beloved brothers Larry and Bob and my father-in- law Elliot Sherman.

But as I think of my mother and her legacy – I realize now that she was among the greatest generation too- the greatest generation of women to have an impact on our world.

These great women rose out of a time of great challenge to grow themselves and their families – changing how women were perceived and paving a path not only for their own children but for all women.

My mother became part of this greatest generation by surrounding herself for her whole life with a circle of girlfriends who still know her all the way back to her days at Hunter College as a member of the alpha chapter of Phi Sig.

She devoted herself to life-long learning beginning in college when she became enamored by the life and studies of Margaret Mead to study Anthropology.  But like many of her generation rather than proceeding further with those studies, she acceded to her father’s wishes and became a teacher.

She was married to my father for 51 years and theirs was a passionate love affair and also an incredibly driven partnership.  While they played mostly traditional roles, he fully supported her work, and she supported his.  They raised their children together and taught us what it meant to value the arts, education and have a work ethic.

Finally after having four children, supporting her husband’s practice as an OB/GYN and working as a teacher, she pursued her own ambitions by returning to school to receive a Master’s in Education and eventually studying to become a psychotherapist, treating patients until she was 86 years old.

My mother lived a life of true hyperbole – she wanted everything around her to be the “BEST of the BEST” and bigger than life – from her fashion to her cooking to her travels around the world. She was the best of Auntie Mame and the Unsinkable Molly Brown combined. And even after my father died way too soon, she bravely continued on, living a life of bold independence and devoted connection to her family.

She and the other famous women of her generation like Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Iris Apfel, Dr. Ruth Westheimer and others – to me, truly formed the greatest generation of women – teaching the next generation to dream big dreams, to demand the best from others and mostly from ourselves, to love deeply and with great energy passion, and most of all reminding us, that we can make a difference as much with who we are, as with what we do.

Of course for me, my mother was the greatest of her greatest generation. I was blessed to be her daughter and am lucky that she inspired me and so many others to be our greatest selves.

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Wright & Ford, your local, family owned & operated “Life Celebration Home”