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She was a member of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach. Her husband of 45 years, George, passed away in 2012. Surviving Mrs. Topolcic are her nieces, Robin L. Reisman of Westport, Conn. and Jodie S. Naber of Sanibel, Fla., and a nephew, Michael J. Reisman of Easton, Conn. She also is survived by a grandniece, Samantha Reisman and a grandnephew, Charles Reisman, both of Easton. Marlene Wilks Virginia Beach—Marlene Beverley Braver Wilks passed away on May 12, 2015. She was born in Richmond, Va. on August 2, 1937 to the late Charles and
Blanche Barney Braver. Marlene grew up in Petersburg, Va, graduating from Petersburg High School in 1954. She attended UNC Greensboro, and graduated with an English degree in 1958. After college, Marlene taught high school briefly in Norfolk until she married and devoted the next 20 years to raising her family and becoming part of several civic organizations in Norfolk, including the Women’s American ORT, a charter member of the Virginia Opera Association, and a past president of the Ohef Sholom Temple Sisterhood. Marlene was an avid reader and proficient in the art of letter writing, never allowing an opportunity to pass by without either a quick note or several handwritten
pages to the recipient. Marlene was outgoing and never failed at making herself comfortable in a crowd. Her inspiration, love of history, music, literature and politics has been passed down to her children to instill these values to their children and the next generations to come. Marlene is survived her sons, David B. Wilks (Alison) of Fairfax, Va. and Reiss F. Wilks (Carey) of Richmond, Va., her daughter, Jennifer Wilks Boyce (Robert)
of Virginia Beach, and her uncle, Daniel Barney of New York, N.Y. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Alex, Aaron, Tyler, Sidney and Ben. A graveside service was held in Brith Achim Cemetery in Petersburg. A memorial celebration was held at Beth Sholom. Donations in Marlene’s memory to Beth Sholom Home, 6401 Auburn Dr., Virginia Beach, VA 23464. Condolences at www. jtmorriss.com.
Rochelle Shoretz, whose cancer battle inspired her activism, dies at 42 by Gabrielle Birkner
NEW YORK (JTA)—Rochelle Shoretz was fond of saying, “There are no problems, only solutions.” Her approach to life was not to dwell on bad news, but to channel the energy that friends described as boundless into somehow making things better. It’s what drove her to establish the national cancer organization Sharsheret after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer at age 28. On Sunday, May 31, Shoretz died of complications from the disease at her home in Teaneck, New Jersey. She was 42. At the time of her initial diagnosis, she was an attorney and the mother of two young boys. While others might have been compelled to save their strength, Rochie, as friends and family called her, shared hers. She launched Sharsheret in 2001 while she was still undergoing chemotherapy. “When I was diagnosed, there were a lot of offers to help with meals and transport my kids, but I really wanted to speak to another young mom who was going to have to explain to her kids that she was going to lose her hair to chemo,” Shoretz told JTA in 2003, describing Sharsheret’s origins. In 2005, Shoretz was a keynote speaker
at Jewish Family Service of Tidewater’s first Sharsheret is important, is a link in the chain,” said Elana Silber, Sharsheret’s direcWeek of Healthy Living. The Teaneck-based nonprofit provides tor of operations, eulogizing Shoretz at her educational and support services to young funeral. Sharsheret means “chain” in Hebrew. Jewish women living with breast cancer and ovarian cancer—or are at heightened Shoretz was an Orthodox Jew. Today, the organization Shoretz founded risks for those diseases, as many Jews of Ashkenazi descent are. One in 40 Ashkenazi runs programs nationwide and has an Jews, both men and women, carry genetic annual budget of about $2.25 million, 16 mutations that increase the risk of breast staff members, and offices in Teaneck and Hollywood, Fla. Sharsheret receives support and ovarian cancer. Shoretz beat cancer the first time around, from individual donors, family foundations but by 2009 the disease had returned and and the pharmaceutical industry, and was spread. Still, she pressed forward in her recently awarded a $1.8 million grant from work and in her personal endeavors, par- the Centers for Disease Control to increase ticipating in triathlons and half-marathons, access to its programming. Sharsheret maintains a peer network of even climbing Machu Picchu in Peru. “They often say when you lose one of five 4,200 Jewish women across the denomisenses, your others are enhanced,” Shoretz national spectrum; runs a genetics hotline told The New York Jewish Week in 2010. “I for individuals and families to discuss wonder if life feels so much more power- their cancer risk; hosts webinars on topics ful and vibrant because I lost some of my ranging from clinical trials to managing relationships as a cancer survivor; and has health.” She was a doer, her colleagues said, programs for different cohorts, including realizing—especially after her cancer came parents of young children and women living with advanced metastatic breast cancer or back—that she had no time to waste. “But at the same time, she would empha- recurrent ovarian cancer. Silber says Sharsheret will continue the size the need to literally block out time to think, to make sure what we are doing work that was so important to its founder. “Rochelle was superhuman in so many is right and everyone who connected to
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ways—brilliant, visionary, motivating, passionate and compassionate,” Silber says. “She was a hero for women and families, and everyone who came in touch with Rochie came in touch with the human side of her as well.” Shoretz always had just the right words to express her gratitude, those who knew her said, and was able to find humor in even the darkest places. As a close friend, Deborah Leipzig said, “We talked a lot about cancer, a lot about loss, and we laughed the entire time we were together.” Born on July 27, 1972, Shoretz grew up in Brooklyn. She graduated from Barnard College and Columbia Law School, and in 1999 served as a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She received a Joshua Venture Group fellowship for Jewish social entrepreneurs and served on the organization’s board. She also held a seat on the Federal Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women. Shoretz, who was divorced, is survived by teenage sons Shlomo and Dovid Mirsky; her mother, Sherry Tenenbaum; her father, Morris Shoretz; five sisters and two brothers. She was a stepdaughter of Jeffrey Tenenbaum and Carol Ann Finkelstein.