Charlotte Fox Zabusky

Charlotte Fox Zabusky, 85, born March 16, 1932, died on August 23, 2017. Charlotte Fox Zabusky was born and raised in Malden, Massachusetts, the child of immigrants, and went on to attend Radcliffe College as a scholarship student, graduating with a degree in English. She later received a master's in multilingual education from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. After living in Pasadena, CA, and Morristown, NJ, she moved to Pittsburgh, where she lived for the past forty years. Charlotte was a world traveler. Beginning in 1959 with her first sojourn abroad, living for a year in Munich with her husband and baby daughter, she later traveled to and lived in Italy, England, Israel, and Japan in the 1970s and '80s, immersing herself in the culture and languages of those countries. She also traveled regularly to the former Soviet Union with her then-husband, Norman Zabusky, a physicist now living in Israel. Charlotte made her last trip abroad to France in 2012, to visit relatives and friends she made as pen pals during high school in the 1940s. Charlotte was a writer for her entire life. Her friends and family looked forward to receiving her multi-page, typed letters, often on colored paper, full of details about her life, travels, thoughts, and ideas. As a professional writer, she published two books: American Mosaic: The Immigrant Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It, co-authored with journalist Joan Morrison, and named a New York Times Notable Book of 1980; and Beyond Borders (2008), a compendium of photo-essays about remarkable American expatriate women. American Mosaic has had a rich and long life, honored at Ellis Island and turned into a theatrical production at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; the authors were also invited to the White House by President George H.W. Bush. The book is still used in university classrooms today. Charlotte also taught workshops on writing family history, encouraging others to explore and share their family heritage. Charlotte's commitment to working with immigrants and refugees began in 1970, when she started working with immigrants as director of the New Americans Program at Neighborhood House in Morristown, N.J. She involved her whole family in the relationships she developed with the individuals and families she supported; her daughters well remember picnics, holiday celebrations, and sharing food with people from all over the world. She continued this work with the Jewish Family and Children's Service of Pittsburgh in 1989, where she supported the personal, employment, and legal needs of immigrants and refugees from all over the world for 20 years. In 1996, she was instrumental in launching the Pittsburgh Naturalization Assistance Program, to support elderly immigrants in the naturalization process. Later she became an accredited representative for the Board of Immigration Appeals at the U.S. Department of Justice, to provide legal services for immigrants. This expertise led to the development of the Pittsburgh Refugee and Immigration Assistance Center (PRIAC) at JFandCS in 2001, which she spearheaded until her retirement. Charlotte was twice honored for her compassionate advocacy in support of immigrants and refugees. In 2005, she received the Doris and Leonard H. Rudolph Jewish Communal Professional Award for her top leadership skills, and in 2008, she received the inaugural Excellence in Service award from the Pennsylvania Refugee Resettlement Program and the Bureau of Employment and Training, recognized for superior services by a refugee service provider. Known as a hostess extraordinaire, avid reader, crossword puzzle expert, cat lover, and arts aficionado, Charlotte had a special fondness for the Pittsburgh Symphony and Opera, Leonard Cohen songs, and Big Band music. She is remembered by friends and family for her keen intellect, ready laugh, and sparkling personality, someone who could make friends in an instant, and who cherished her many connections at home and around the world. Charlotte was predeceased by her siblings Miriam Fox and Sherwood Fox, and her son, Alexander Nicholas Fox Zabusky (2008). She is survived by two daughters: Stacia Zabusky (Donald Spector) and Erica Zabusky (Mitch Stockton); and by her three grandchildren, Antal and Elias Spector-Zabusky and Madeleine Zabusky-Stockton. Funeral services will be private. We ask that you honor Charlotte's memory by making a donation to the Alexander Zabusky Fund of the Jewish Family and Children's Service of Pittsburgh, supporting work with immigrants and refugees (5743 Bartlett Street; Pittsburgh, PA 15217; 412.422.7200; http://www.jfcspgh.org/donate.aspx ) or to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS, 411 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1006; New York, NY 10016; 212-967-4100;).

Charlotte Fox Zabusky

March 16, 1932 - August 23, 2017