APRIL 6 • 2023 | 63

S

andy Schwartz, 79, of 
Franklin, a positive 
force who devoted 
her life to family, friends and 
philanthropy, died Sunday, 
March 26, 2023, 
after living with 
and above cancer 
for 45 years.
Born Dec. 23, 
1943, to Herbert 
and Jeanette 
Goldberg, Sandy 
grew up in Norfolk, 
Va., in an intimate, vibrant 
Jewish community, where her 
parents owned hardware and 
women’s clothing businesses. 
In nursery school, Sandy and 
11 other girls began a lifelong 
friendship. Later in life, this 
remarkable group of women 
dubbed themselves the West 
Ghent Girls (WGG) after the 
Norfolk neighborhood in which 
they grew up. The West Ghent 
Girls and their husbands cele-
brated generations of simchahs 
together, never missing bar 
and bat mitzvahs or weddings 
of one another’s children and 
later grandchildren. Sandy’s 
connection with the WGG 
and her family that remained 
in Tidewater always enabled 
Sandy to call Norfolk home 
(only occasionally to her hus-
band Alan’s irritation).
After graduation from 
high school, Sandy attended 
and graduated from Sophie 
Newcomb College of Tulane 
University. There, too, she 
made lifelong friends. From 
New Orleans, Sandy moved 
to Boston, as she would say, to 
look for a husband. If you were 
21 and Southern and Jewish 
and not engaged, you were 
a spinster; and Sandy at 23, 
would experience her mother 
telling her friends that it was a 
shame that Sandy never mar-
ried. Thankfully for both of 
them, Alan and Sandy met in 
a casually arranged setting to 
watch the 1967 Major League 
Baseball All-Star game, a set up 
by one of Sandy’s college room-

mates and Alan’s best friend at 
law school. The next morning, 
Alan told his friend that he 
thought Sandy was very cute 
and that he wanted to call her; 
while Sandy told her friend that 
Alan was the rudest person she 
had ever met. Notwithstanding 
that less-than-perfect start, the 
friends persevered, and Sandy 
and Alan married in the sum-
mer of 1968 and were married 
for 54 years.
Sandy and Alan moved to 
Detroit, where Sandy started 
a new life knowing not a soul 
(except for Brenda and Ira 
Jaffe). She would say to Alan: “It 
isn’t that people don’t like me; 
they don’t know me.
” Indeed, 
once people got to know Sandy, 
they loved her. During her 
decades in Michigan, Sandy 
became a community activist 
and an influential volunteer 
within the Detroit Jewish com-
munity. She developed many 
deep relationships, her trade-
mark.
Among her many accom-
plishments, Sandy co-founded 
the Cancer Thrivers Network 
for Jewish Women, an organiza-
tion to which she was extremely 
dedicated as a woman who had 
spent nearly her entire adult 
life facing cancer. With more 
than 300 women, the network 
is an empowerment group for 
women living with or recover-
ing from cancer. “To celebrate 
life, we all need three bones: 
a wishbone, a backbone and a 
funny bone,
” Sandy said in a 
2019 interview when she was 
honored with Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek Sisterhood’s 
Woman of Valor Award.
Sandy was a founding 
trustee of the Jewish Women’s 
Foundation, a past president 
of Jewish Federation’s Women’s 
Philanthropy, the president 
of the Congregation Shaarey 
Zedek Sisterhood and a life 
board member of the Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan 
Detroit. She was involved in the 
League of Women Voters and 
the American Cancer Society. 

Sandy was an active board 
member of many Federation 
agencies, including the Jewish 
Community Center, Jewish 
Home and Aging Services (now 
Jewish Senior Life), Jewish 
Vocational Service (now Gesher 
Human Services) and Jewish 
Family Service. She was presi-
dent of the Sinai Guild, a board 
member of various subsidiaries 
of the Detroit Medical Center, 
a consumer representative to 
the Greater Detroit Area Health 
Council and a board member 
of the Jewish Community 
Relations Council.
Sandy was a full-time volun-
teer and then some. She always 
said she wanted to be nothing 
more than a foot soldier, but all 
these organizations and others 
sought her out for leadership 
because of her kindness, tire-
less commitment, wisdom and 
judgment. She became a friend 
and mentor to generations of 
women in the community.
She preferred to stay behind 
the scenes and sought no rec-
ognition, but several organi-
zations to which she devoted 
her energy chose to recognize 
her, nevertheless. Sandy was 
honored for her extraordi-
nary efforts with the United 
Way Heart of Gold Award, 
the Distinguished Volunteer 
Award by Jewish Federation 
for National Philanthropy, the 
William Davidson Lifetime 
Achievement Award, the 
Association of Fundraising 
Professionals (AFP) 
Distinguished Volunteer Award, 
the Kipnis-Wilson Friedland 
Award and the Geri Lester 
Courage Award.
Sandy also was known for 
her quips, which she shared 
freely. Two of her favorites were: 
“To have a friend, you have to 
be a friend,
” and “It’s nice to be 
important, but it’s more import-
ant to be nice.
”
With all of that, Sandy 
reserved her greatest love for 
Alan, David and Jodi, Mark and 
Denise and Elena, Ian, Sam, 
Zack and Andrew (A.J.). She 

was the best mom and nana a 
child or grandchild could ever 
hope to have. She took care 
of Alan and tried her best to 
smooth his rough edges for 
nearly 55 years of love and 
mutual devotion. She became 
the family matriarch, elegantly 
hosting all of the Jewish holiday 
meals for extended family and 
friends for decades.
Finally, Sandy was a thriver, 
not just a survivor. Diagnosed 
with cancer at age 33, she never 
gave in and never complained. 
She worked tirelessly with oth-
ers first in Reach to Recovery 
and then with Michelle Passon 
and the late Patti Nemer to 
establish the Cancer Thrivers 
Network, which has benefited 
hundreds of women facing and 
trying to learn to deal with and 
cope with cancer. Sandy made a 
difference to so many.
Mrs. Schwartz is survived by 
her husband of 54 years, Alan S. 
Schwartz; sons and daughters-
in-law, David Schwartz and Jodi 
Cohen, and Mark and Denise 
Schwartz; grandchildren, Elena, 
Ian, Sam, Zachary and Andrew 
Schwartz; sister and brother-in-
law, Judy and Mannie Smith; 
sisters-in-law and brothers-in-
law, Gail and Dr. Alan Sugar, 
Gary Schwartz and Cindy 
Shaffran, and Chris Billmeyer; 
many loving relatives, friends 
and the West Ghent Girls. 
She was the dear sister-in-law 
of the late Janice Billmeyer.
Interment was at Clover Hill 
Park Cemetery. Contributions 
may be made to Cancer 
Thrivers Network for Jewish 
Women, 6735 Telegraph Road, 
Suite 100, Bloomfield Hills, 
MI 48301, cancerthriversnet-
workmi.org/donate; Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan 
Detroit, 6735 Telegraph Road, 
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301, 
jewishdetroit.org/send-a-trib-
ute; or Congregation Shaarey 
Zedek, 27375 Bell Road, 
Southfield, MI 48034, shaar-
eyzedek.shulcloud.com/pay-
ment.php. Arrangements by Ira 
Kaufman Chapel. 

A Community Stalwart

Sandy 
Schwartz

