Emily Grunwald's Obituary
Emily Grunwald passed away peaceably in Somerville, NJ, on June 15, 2024. Emily (Gladstone) Grunwald was born on December 9, 1933, in the Bronx, NY. She had a happy early childhood in New York and remembered fondly her summers spent on Kirk Lake in Putnam County, where she and her younger sister, Alisa (Alice), played and lived in a small cabin built by her father, Morris William Gladstone. Emily and her family moved to Miami Beach in 1945. As a student at Miami Beach High, Emily was the editor of the school yearbook and developed a lifelong passion for classical music. She was also active in student civil rights groups and Habonim, a progressive Zionist youth organization. After a year at Antioch College in Ohio, Emily traveled to the young state of Israel with a Habonim Workshop in 1952. But instead of returning to the United States, Amalia, as she was known in Hebrew, stayed in Israel, eventually settling in K’vutzat Geva, a kibbutz near Afula. At Geva she met and married a young Hungarian immigrant, Joseph "Yoske" Grunwald. They married in 1953 and had their first child later that year. She and Yoske and their young son, Eitan, returned to Miami Beach in 1955, settling in a house in North Miami Beach in 1960. There she had two more sons, Ron and Robert, and continued to live in the same house for 62 years, before moving to New Jersey in 2022 to be closer to family. At the kibbutz, Amalia worked in the children’s house, and she continued to work in early childhood education upon returning to the States. “Miss Emily” taught 3- and 4-year-olds for 42 years at the Temple Beth Sholom pre-school on Miami Beach before retiring around 1998. Emily was a loving mother and Cub Scout den mother for her sons, an attentive Savta to her grandchildren, and a devoted caregiver for her parents in their later years. She also made many friends, as she was gregarious, always smiling, quick with a compliment and a joke. In her early years back in South Florida she was part of an Israeli ex-pat community. Later she was much loved in her Chavurah and "Shabbat Group" of friends. She was a regular at the pool of her local JCC, where she formed many lasting friendships, and was also a long-time member of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Emily always enjoyed handcrafts, and for many years was completely absorbed with quilting. She made dozens, perhaps hundreds of quilts, including bed quilts and wall hangings and baby quilts for all her grandchildren and many more. She loved nothing more than to run her hands through boxes of quilt fabric and then imagine some intricate and fanciful pattern. And then give the finished quilt away. Her many quilts are treasured possessions of numerous friends and family around the world. In addition to her nimble fingers and creative eye, Emily had a quick wit and love of words. She was an unbeatable Scrabble player, a master of 2-letter words and vowel dumps. During the isolation of Covid she would often play her left hand against the right hand (although she accused the left hand of cheating). She was fiercely competitive and would never let her grandchildren win on purpose. But she would always be proud of them when they did. Emily was preceded in death by her husband of 43 years, Joseph Grunwald. She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Eitan & Karyn, Ron & Lorisa, and Robert & Sandee; her grandchildren Shoshanna (Aaron), Ilan (Khushbu), Fian, Benjamin, and Joseph; great-grandchild Oren; and sister Alisa Mariani (Umberto). Memorial donations may be made to the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in North Miami Beach, marjcc.org or to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, www.fairchildgarden.org. A Graveside Service will be held on Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 10:00 am at Temple Beth El Memorial Gardens, 4900 Griffin Road, Davie, Florida 33314. Arrangements by Levitt-Weinstein Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel, (305) 932-2700
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