Irene Lebovits' Obituary
It is with great sadness that Irene Lebovits's family announces her passing on May 27, 2025, in Hallandale Beach, Florida. She would have celebrated her 100th birthday on September 12th.
The daughter of Rose and Ludwig Mermelstein, Irene was born in Czechoslovakia on Sept. 12, 1925, in what is now Zakarpattia, Ukraine. She survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and C. Lorenz AG slave labor at a Gross-Rosen subcamp in the Sudetenland.
After her liberation, she was married in Satu-Mare, Romania, on Sept. 11, 1945, to Eugene Lebovits, who had escaped from the Hungarian Forced Labor Battalions.
They fled Communist Europe after the war and lived in Antwerp, Belgium, where Irene graduated from ORT Belgium with a fashion degree in "coupe et couture" earned "avec la mention la plus grande distinction."
In 1950, Irene and Eugene moved from Antwerp to Montréal, Québec, until they relocated to Florida in 1979. Eugene Z"L, who owned Star Stainless Canada Ltd., which manufactured kitchen equipment, passed away in 1994.
Irene is survived by her beloved children, Margaret Agnes (Agi) Lebovits, a Montréal bookkeeper, and Gerald Lebovits and Margaret Chan, both New York City judges. She is further survived by her adored grandchildren, Natalie Lebovits-Zaidenberg, Or Zaidenberg, and Kenneth Lebovits of New York City; Mindy Shear and Rabbi Reuben Poupko of Montréal; and Jamie and Naama Shear of Jerusalem. She is also survived by her cherished great-grandchildren Moshe, Uriel, Tehila, Navah, Shalev, Dina, Yonah, Natan, and Yona, as well nieces Susanna, Lynne, and Deborah; nephews Fouad, Bruce, and Steven; and great-nieces, great-nephews, and great-great nephews, who affectionally called her by her Hungarian nickname, Maca (Matza) néni. May her memory be a blessing.
Chapel Service will be held on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at Levitt-Weinstein Beth David Memorial Chapel, 3201 N. 72nd Avenue, Hollywood, Florida 33024.
Shiva in Florida on May 29; in New York on June 1 (from noon-8 at 111 Worth St., Manhattan); and in Montréal on May 29-30 and June 1-2 (each day from 2-6). (Formal Shiva ends on June 1, but the family will continue to receive through June 2 in Montréal.) Montréal Shiva will be at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Donations in Irene's memory may be made to Mt. Sinai Hospital, [www.mountsinaifoundation.org/in-honour-in-memory/#]. Arrangements by Levitt-Weinstein Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel (305) 932-2700.
To View the service Live, please go to Tribute Wall and click on the picture of the film reel. or highlight the whole link below and copy and paste into the search bar:
https://www.shiva.com/0un7rsma
To learn more about Irene and Eugene's family Holocaust history click the link: https://www.glebovitspublications.com/publications/holocaust-remembrance/holocaust-houdinis
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