Ruth Fishman

She led a full and happy life- a life of achievement, study, of engagement with family and

of professional success.

She met her husband Erwin (Erv) Fishman when they were thirteen years old, began

dating when they were fourteen and had a storybook relationship for 72 years (including

66 years of marriage). They raised three children, Steve, David, Lenore, and adored their

seven grandsons. They were both born and raised in Philadelphia, relocated to New

Jersey and then to New York city.

Ruth and Erv both attended Penn State University. It was a time when women weren’t

expected – and weren’t encouraged – to go to college. They married after their

sophomore year, and Ruth quit college to work to support the family. She deeply loved

learning and in her thirties returned to college at Fairleigh Dickinson University where

she earned a bachelor’s degree in education

In 1971, Ruth and Erv founded The Tutoring Center, a school in Montclair, NJ, and later

added another center in Springfield, NJ. Along with their staff of teachers, they provided

tutoring for remediation and enrichment. Ruth talked joyfully of the young people they

helped on the way to success. The school offered services no matter a family’s ability to

pay, and had a long record of helping anyone who put in the effort. They sold the

Tutoring Center when they hit 55, and then travelled widely, methodically mapping trips

throughout Europe, to Africa, Russia, Turkey, throughout the US and Canada, and even

once on a houseboat down the Mississippi which they captained themselves.

Ruth was a matriarch who deeply enjoyed family. For Ruth, there was always room for

one more at the table, always enough of her famed brisket. The more the merrier. She

spoke her mind, but had a great gift for accommodation as well. Everybody felt welcome

in her home. She could tell a terrific story, had a sharp wit and a jitterbug step to die for

which she occasionally would demonstrate.

Ruth was an avid reader her entire life - Erv called her “my scholar,” which thrilled her.

Even late in life she took course after course at nearby colleges, and taught a few as well.

During Covid, she studied history, politics, Jewish history and Yiddish via Zoom, sought to

solve age-old questions posed by Jewish scholars, and binged on the Food channel

(which became a passion as her appetite diminished). She never stopped engaging

intellectually, underlining her favorite passages in the dozens of books that piled up

around the house, and “sharing” her knowledge with her children and grandchildren,

who were the absolute joys of her life. She was full of life till the very end, and once said

that she had no regrets.

She will be dearly missed by her family: Steve and Ria, Oscar and Augie; David and Carol,

Nathaniel, Noah, Oliver and Gustavo; Lenore and Robert, Aaron, Isaac and Anastasia.

Donations in Ruth's honor can be made to St Jude Children's Hospital