Editor’s note: This obituary has been changed to note that Charlotte Spitzer was pre-deceased by her daughter, Jil Spitzer-Fox.
On June 26, social activist Charlotte Spitzer of Kirkland died peacefully. Spitzer, along with her husband Jack, served her community through her work with the King County Library Systems, and by endowing the Columbia University library and the Department of Social Work at the University of Washington.
Charlotte Braunstein was born on February 7, 1918 to immigrant parents in Baltimore, Md., the middle of five children. Her family moved to Los Angeles, where Charlotte attended Los Angeles High School and later studied piano at the University of Southern California. She completed her degree at UCLA.
In 1939, Charlotte moved with her future husband, Jack Spitzer, to New Orleans where she worked for the Red Cross in the first inter-racial counseling program. When the United States entered World War II, she and Jack moved back to Los Angeles and married before Jack was sent overseas.
While Jack fought in Europe, Charlotte hit the books yet again and obtained her master’s degree in Social Work at Columbia University. Following her graduation, she remained an active alumna, eventually endowing the university library along with Jack.
Charlotte worked for many years in psychiatric social work. She and Jack eventually moved to Seattle, where she was active in the local community both inside and out of Jewish life. She became a trustee for the King County Library Systems in 1998, a position she held until 2007.
“She was a strong advocate of literacy and challenged the system to boldly advance its mission,” said her son, Robert Spitzer.
A woman full of passions, Spitzer also had a love for travel. She visited 80 countries in her lifetime and founded a travel agency with her husband in 1972. She was also an active advocate for social justice, which led to the founding of another and entirely different establishment — the Charlotte B. and Jack J. Spitzer School of Social Work at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.
The Spitzers were very active in the Seattle Jewish community, including support of the Jewish Federation and organizations associated with B’nai B’rith, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Hillel Foundation.
“Charlotte was a quiet and effective leader in Jewish and non-Jewish causes from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel to the King Country Library system. She was also a perfect complement to her departed husband Jack Spitzer, an international Jewish presence and philanthropist,” said Richard Fruchter, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
Despite her busy professional and volunteer life, Spitzer’s family was always her first priority.
“She was the matriarch, the organizer of family reunions, the correspondent with distant relatives, the counselor, and the glue which held the extended family together,” Robert said.
Charlotte Spitzer is predeceased by her husband Jack Spitzer and daughter Jil Spitzer-Fox. She is survived by son and daughter-in-law Robert and Kathleen Spitzer and grandchildren Manya, Anikke, Hanni and Derva Spitzer-Fox, and Samara, Philip, and Henry Spitzer.