Ruth Eckstein
Funeral Service: July 31, 2024 11:00 AM
Cemetery: New Montefiore Cemetery
1180 Wellwood Avenue,
West Babylon, NY 11704
Notes:
Ruth Eckstein Obituary
Ruth Eckstein (nee Bogner) passed away just past midnight on July 30, 2024. Born September 28, 1934 in
Berlin, Germany. Long-time resident of Seaford, Long Island and Delray Beach, Florida and most
recently, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Predeceased by 10 years by the love of her life, Leon Eckstein. Loving mother of Andrew (Felice
Ekelman), Gary (Amy Cohen) and Daniel (Tara Hamilton). And loving grandmother of Isabel (Alex
Mollozzi), Adam (Molly Cafaro), Tamar, Noah, Kai, Ben and predeceased by her grandson, the late
Sammy Cohen Eckstein.
She had a tumultuous early life, having escaped Nazi Germany with her father, Anczel Bogner, as a four-
year old and having lost her mother, Gitel Bogner (nee Spielman) the day before they departed. She
spent the next four years, initially as a refugee and in the care of friends and family in Europe, and
ultimately in New York City before settling in as a “normal” family with her father and wonderful,
beloved step-mother, Frieda Bogner (nee Holendar) in Washington Heights, NYC.
She and Leon settled in Seaford where they raised their family, later spending winters in Delray Beach,
until she entered senior living arrangements after Leon’s passing.
She commenced night school at City College as a young adult, interrupted by early child rearing. She
ultimately completed her undergraduate course studies and attained her Masters Degree in Social Work
in the late 1970s commencing her career as a professional social worker.
She had a unique inner strength and resilience, powering through her early life traumas and later in life,
Leon’s spiral into Alzheimers’, the tragic loss of her grandson, Sammy to vehicular violence, and her own
significant physical problems and challenges. Despite her early life traumas, she was remarkably well-
adjusted. She was an avid reader and opera fan, a great “listener” and a wise, loving, caring, sensitive
and thoughtful wife, mother, grandmother and friend to so many.