Miriam Roder Blackman passed away on Monday, July 15, 2019, in her bed at the Preserve Retirement Home in Pompano Beach, FL, from a sudden rupture of a dissecting thoracic aortic aneurysm. She had turned 96 on June 10th. At her bedside were her daughter, Carol Lynne Blackman Finch, and her son, Clifford A. Blackman, both of Pompano Beach. Miriam’s oldest son, Jerome, of Virginia Beach, VA, had visited her just weeks before her death. Miriam (or Massy as her family called her) was born in New Orleans, LA, in 1923. She was the oldest of six children. Her father, Joseph Roder, was an immigrant from the Ukraine who later served in WWI and then ran a dry goods store. Her mother, nee Clara Sterbcow, was from the New Orleans Weinstein family. One of Massy’s brothers died in infancy from diphtheria. Later, when she was 11, her father died from esophageal carcinoma. She helped her mother raise the remaining children, and the entire family eventually moved in with Clara's generous older brother, Marx Sterbcow, MD in his large house on Prytania Street. Miriam later wrote about her experiences with her many Aunts, Uncles and siblings in that house, in her memoirs of that time, in a book called Magazine Street (available upon request), the address of her original home. She learned piano from her Uncle, Louis Sterbcow, a New Orleans jeweler. Because of a gift of perfect pitch, she excelled at this and it provided life-long enjoyment. Only months before her death, she was playing On a Louisiana Bayou, which Louis had written. She was also renowned for adeptness and responsiveness as a dancer, both in her youth and as an adult. After graduating from Sophie Wright High School at 15, Miriam attended secretarial school for a year, and began working. When she was 17, she met Lionel Hart (Mike) Blackman, a carpet-bagger from Brooklyn, NY, who had begun studies at Tulane University in January. He was also 17. They dated from 1940 throughout WW II, while Mike attended the accelerated Army program at Tulane Medical School. She and Mike got married on October 4, 1945, at Anshe Sfard Synagogue in New Orleans. Miriam's wedding dress was sewn from parachute silk somehow requisitioned from Europe by Mike's best friend from his childhood years in Brooklyn, Jack Martin, who was still stationed overseas. Mike graduated from medical school in 1946. Due to her photographic memory, Miriam was selected as a private secretary to an Army General stationed in New Orleans during WW II. Miriam followed Mike to New York, where he interned at the Israel Zion (now Maimonides) Hospital. They lived in a one-room basement apartment in Brooklyn. In June 1947, on her own birthday, their oldest son, Jerome Scott, was born, and they were soon thereafter sent by the Army to Pasadena, California, where Mike served as a general medical officer at the Army's McCornack General Hospital. They also attended the Rose Parade and were treated to one of the few snowstorms ever to hit L.A. There are pictures to prove it. In 1949, Mike and Massy returned to New York at the suggestion of Mike's father, Theodore Abraham Blackman (TA). Mike took his general psychiatry residency at Brooklyn State Hospital, and in 1949, their second son, Clifford Abraham, was born in NY. Around 1950, Miriam and Mike moved to 241-16 132nd Road, Rosedale, Queens, a house they bought with a 3% GI mortgage. Their 3rd son, Daniel Jay, was born in 1951. Mike finished his residency in 1952 and started practicing psychiatry, first in Manhattan, and then in New Hyde Park. Miriam and Mike lived in Queens until soon after their fourth child, Carol Lynne, was born in 1955. In April of 1957, they bought a home in Country Estates in East Hills, Roslyn, Nassau County. Miriam raised the children, and later, when all the children were in school, took over as office manager in Mike's office. They continued to live in Roslyn until 1971, when Mike decided to move his practice to W. Palm Beach, Florida, where his parents were then living as retirees. While in NY, Miriam was close friends with her sister-in-law, Arlene, the wife of Lionel's brother, Seymour. Later, in Florida, Seymour also stayed close with them. Miriam was also close with Carol Waxberg, a former June Taylor Dancer, married to Mike’s friend from residency, Joe Waxberg. Betty Karlinsky from across the street was a frequent visitor. In Florida, Miriam became active in entertaining Mike's acquaintances, and eventually, Mike became President of the Florida Psychiatric Society. In the late 1980's, their youngest son, Dan, a successful plaintiff's attorney in Sunrise, FL, developed a severe case of grand mal epilepsy. Eventually disabled, Dan was cared for by Mike and Miriam. After Mike died from a small-cell carcinoma of the lung in 1997, Miriam dedicated the rest of her life to caring for Dan until he passed away from cancer in 2016. Dan also kept her company, and visited often with Carol Lynne and her daughter, Missy, who lived in Okeechobee, FL. For the past 15 years, Miriam was also heavily involved in helping Missy and her two daughters, Alyxis & Jenna. When Dan died, and Carol's husband passed away, Carol moved in with Miriam and helped her. Cliff closed down his law practice in San Francisco and moved to Pompano Beach to care for Miriam in her last years. John Blackman, Miriam's nephew, living in Boca Raton, also was of great help. Beloved niece Ruth Leah Danziger of L.A. was a constant source of encouragement, calling Auntie M weekly. Miriam is survived by her son, Jerome Blackman, MD, a psychoanalyst in Virginia Beach and his wife, Susan; her son, Clifford Blackman, a retired attorney and current realtor in Pompano Beach; and her daughter, Carol Lynne Finch, also of Pompano Beach. She is also survived by her younger sisters, Celia Ganeles of Westport, CT and Lelia Botnick of Augusta, GA; her five grandchildren, Rachael Blackman Collins of Midvale, UT, Missy Finch of Okeechobee, FL, Brittany Blackman West of Weehawken, NJ, Theodore Abraham Blackman II of San Francisco, CA, and Joshua Abraham Blackman of San Francisco; and six great-grandchildren: Missy¹s daughters, Alyxis and Jenna, and Rachael's 4 sons, Jesse, Connor, Hunter, & Reilly. In addition to her son Daniel, Miriam was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Lionel Blackman (W. Palm Beach), and her brother, David Roder, and sister, Esther Danziger, both of Houston, TX. The funeral and interment was held at I. J. Morris at Star of David Cemetery of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida. Miriam was interred next to her beloved husband, Lionel, and beloved son, Daniel. Any thoughts or condolences may be sent to Clifford or Jerome Blackman at [email protected] or [email protected]]
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