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Scarsdale's Lillian Kaplan Feldshuh, Activist, Volunteer, Dies At 103

SCARSDALE, N.Y. -- Lillian Kaplan Feldshuh, an activist, volunteer, vice president for the Westchester region of Hadassah and mother of actress Tovah Feldshuh, died peacefully Monday at 1:35 a.m. at her Scarsdale home, surrounded by her loved ones. She was 103 years old.

She was born April 18, 1911, in the then rural Bronx. She attended Walton High School for girls and graduated with a degree in German from New York University in 1931, where she was Vice President of the sophomore class.

She married Harvard Law graduate Sidney Feldshuh on June 14, 1935.  In 1952, the couple moved to Scarsdale, where they would live out the rest of their lives.

Lillian Feldshuh was an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party and served as vice president in charge of Membership for the Westchester region of ?Hadassah, where she was a life member.

She regularly volunteered at Burke Rehabilitation Center and Payne Whitney Westchester in White Plains, playing ping pong with patients suffering from depression and other mental illnesses.

In 2011, at the age of 100, she received the Courageous Patient Award at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics  International Conference on behalf of 11,000 physicians participating in aortic valve replacement research.

In the last months of her life, she did a vaudeville act in front of hundreds to celebrate her 103rd birthday and when asked how she lived so long, she said "Easy. Chocolate and laughter on a daily basis!"

She is survived by her children: doctor and director David Feldshuh and Broadway, as well as her son-in-law Andrew Harris Levy, daughter-in-law Martha Frommelt, five grandchildren: Brandon & Amanda Levy; Noah, Zachary and Hannah Feldshuh as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins of 3 generations.

Funeral Services will be held Tuesday June 24, 2014 at 11 a.m. at Temple Israel Center 280 Old Mamaroneck Road in White Plains, with burial at Riverside Cemetery at 12 Market Street in Saddle Brook, N.J. Shiva will immediately follow at Mrs. Feldshuh's home in Scarsdale.

?In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Lily’s honor to the Columbia Heart Valve Center: Please make checks payable to:

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, with “Columbia Heart Valve Center” on the memo line, and direct them to:

Office of Development – CUMC, Attn: Jesse Rodriguez, 630 West 168th Street, Room 2-421, New York, NY 10032 (Tel: 212.305.3348);

or the Westchester Region of Hadassah: 10 New King Street Suite 202, White Plains, NY 10604;

or the Sidney Feldshuh and Lillian Kaplan Feldshuh Dean’s Research Scholarship Fund at New York University (checks are payable to NYU, ATTN Cynthia Elaine Young, Assistant Dean of Development, College of Arts and Sciences, New York University, 25 West 4th Street, #337, New York, NY 10012).

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