Eric "Enrico" Lamet's Obituary
Eric "Enrico" Lamet passed away on October 4, 2023 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was born Erich Lifschutz in 1930 in Vienna, Austria the son of Markus Lifschutz and Carlotte Szrya Brandwein Lifschutz. In 1938, he and his parents fled Vienna to Italy when the Germans invaded Austria. His parents were eventually separated by the war. He and his mother were later interned by the Italian government as foreign Jews and, although their lives were limited, they were not harmed, and he remained Italian in his heart until his final days. It was in Ospedaletto where he and his mother met Pietro Russo, another internee, who eventually became his dear father. The village of Ospedaletto D'Alpinolo, where they were interned, made him an honorary citizen in 2008.
In 1950, he immigrated to the United States living first in Philadelphia where he met lifetime friends at the University of Pennsylvania International House and later moving to Miami, Florida.
He and his wife, Judith "Cookie" Kazer Lamet moved to Pittsfield in the beautiful Berkshires in 2013. They loved to travel and spent two months in Italy this past spring. He also loved the opera and could still sing the words of his favorite Italian operas. A true Renaissance man, he spoke five languages and maintained his friendships around the world. In 2007 he published A Gift from the Enemy, a childhood memoir of wartime Italy later republished as A Child al Confino. In Pittsfield, he was an active member of the Berkshire International Club, the Cappucinno Club meeting weekly to speak Italian and Temple Anshe Amunim.
He is survived by his wife and his three children, Todd Lamet, Robyn Lamet and Deborah Bauer, his stepchildren, Adam Reinhard and Beth Reinhard, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren including granddaughters, Abigail and Emma Reinhard Greene. Donations memory of Eric Lamet may be made to Temple Anshe Amunim, www.ansheamunim.org, Berkshire Humane Society www.berkshirehumane.org and the Berkshire Opera Festival, www.berkshireoperafestival.org/donate-now.
A Graveside Service will be held on Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 1:30 p.m. at Mt. Nebo Miami Memorial Park, 5505 NW 3rd St, Miami, FL 33126. Arrangements by Levitt-Weinstein Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel (305) 932-2700.
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