Charlotte Mazis

Charlotte Mazis, 93 years old, who had only recently moved to St. John Herr’s in Columbia after living for more than sixty years in New York City’s Manhattan, passed away peacefully on January 23rd. At her side in Mt. Joy’s Hospice at the moment of her death were her two children, Glen and Joan, after being surrounded by her entire family during the week at Hospice. Charlotte had been a pioneer of her generation, raising two children alone in New York, after being divorced when the children were quite young in an age before this was common. She had a passion for literature, theater, and classical music that she passed on to her children. Jane Austen was her absolute favorite novelist and Charlotte was a member of the Jane Austen Society. However, her favorite reading and her lifelong interest was in the figures and history of the Revolutionary War period and about the early days of the United States. She was quite a history buff of that period. She also was a member of the Great Books reading group and completed their entire curriculum. Living behind Lincoln Center, she was frequently at performances that gave her joy. She also traveled to London, Paris, Canada, Rome, Israel, Tuscany and other places around the world, although her greatest joy was to sit by the ocean and contemplate the waves. She was a kind and gentle woman, who was always beloved wherever she went. She worked at RCA Records as an executive secretary for more than thirty years before she retired. After her retirement, she worked a few additional years at Bertelsmann Recording Group. She was a walker and even at 93, after recovering from a shattered hip, she would be seen taking her constitutional around the block or down to the banks of the Hudson River. She also was a member for many years of a Tai Chi group that met in her building. Equally important to her until her final day were the current political events, and she had to read the New York Times from cover to cover each day or the day was not complete. Central to her life was her joy that her two children had given back to the world by being a professor and a nurse epidemiologist. Perhaps, it was her devotion to the beauty of the world in human’s creations and in nature that caused at the moment of her death, 10:27 a.m., January 23, 2018, for there to appear in the sky over Hospice and the general area a rare rainbow in January. She died from the aftermath of a stroke caused by an undetected brain tumor. Her memorial service will be held at 303 West 66th Street in New York on March 4th in the building where she lived for the past 47 years, so that her friends and family may reminisce about her rich life and celebrate who she was. Donations to Mt. Joy Hospice or to the Outreach Organization of 303 West 66th Street would be welcomed. Charlotte is survived by her two children, Joan and Glen, her beloved daughter-in-law, Judith, her lifelong companion, John Neill, her granddaughter, Tamatha, and her devoted nieces and nephews, Ruth, Debbie and Gerald, and her great-grandchildren, Tristan and Skyler.