1920-2014
Edith Morgan, a resilient woman of glamour and warmth, died on July 20 at Mills-Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame after a brief illness. She was 93.
The youngest of five children born to Rose and Bernard Herskovits in Szomotor, Czechoslovakia, Edith, like many of her generation, had her youth ripped away as the Nazis marched through Europe. Staying one step ahead of them, she escaped in 1941 in a harrowing journey through occupied France, Spain and finally Portugal, where she sailed for the United States. Her parents and two of her sisters also emigrated, but her older sister died in the Holocaust and her brother was killed in the chaos following the war.
Settling in Chicago, she met fellow Czech Morrie Morgan. They married in 1944 and moved to Modesto, Calif., where Morrie entered the produce business and where their two sons, Richard, now a physician in Burlingame, and Michael, a Seattle attorney, were born. In 1955, the family moved to Beverly Hills.
Edith’s full-time career was mother, homemaker and hostess, and she excelled at all three — no one could make a more delicate blintz or a more robust chicken paprikash. After Morrie died in 1973, she continued an active social life and volunteered for a number of causes.
Seven years ago, she moved to a senior residence in San Mateo to be closer to family. They remained her main interest, especially her four grandchildren — Melissa (Marty) of Mercer Island; Todd (Wendy) of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Daniel of Tel Aviv; and Joanna of San Francisco. They survive her, as do her sons and her daughters-in-laws Miriam (Richard) and Linda (Michael) and her great-grandchildren Ariella, Sasha, Oliver and Jacob.
Funeral services were held on July 24 in Los Angeles. Donations in Edith’s memory can be made to The Kline Galland Home, the Stroum Jewish Community Center, or a charity of your choice.