Elaine Beverly Schwartz

Elaine Schwartz, beloved mother of Hanina (Mark), Rami (Arthur), and Shira (Jimmy), devoted grandmother of 5 and great-grandmother of 7, died on October 5, 2025. She will be remembered as a vivacious, wise, perceptive, and loving woman who adored reading, classical music, and good conversation. She earned a BA in English and an MA in English Literature, both from Brooklyn College, and, in her 50s, received a Master's (MSW) in Social Work from Yeshiva University. She lectured on the Contemporary Novel and worked as a copy editor at R.R. Bowker. She later combined her love of poetry with her skill as a psychotherapist to obtain certification as a poetry therapist and led workshops in poetry therapy, using poems to help people get in touch with and express their inner feelings. A native New Yorker, she moved to Charleston, SC after she and her second husband, Horace Bresler, fell in love with the Spoleto Festival. She established a psychotherapy practice there and continued her work as a poetry therapist. She returned to New York in 1994.
Donations in her memory may be made to The Fortune Society, The Metropolitan Opera, WQXR Radio, The New York Public Library or any organization of your choosing.