Charlotte Fox Zabusky
ZABUSKY: Charlotte Fox Zabusky, 85, died August 23, 2017 in Pittsburgh. Born and raised in Malden, Mass., she graduated from Radcliffe College, later earning a master’s in multilingual education from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She lived in California and New Jersey, before moving to Pittsburgh, where she spent the past forty years. Charlotte loved traveling, having lived in Germany, Italy, England, Israel, and Japan, and visiting the Soviet Union many times with her then-husband, physicist Norman Zabusky. In 1970, Charlotte began working with immigrants and refugees as director of the New Americans Program at Neighborhood House in Morristown, N.J. In Pittsburgh, she continued that work with the Jewish Family & Children’s Service. During her 20-year tenure there, she helped establish the Pittsburgh Naturalization Assistance Program, as well as the Pittsburgh Refugee and Immigration Assistance Center, which she spearheaded from 2001 until her retirement. For her compassion and leadership, Charlotte received the Rudolph Jewish Communal Professional Award (2005), and the inaugural Excellence in Service award from the PA Refugee Resettlement Program and Bureau of Employment & Training (2008). A writer her entire life, she published two books: American Mosaic: The Immigrant Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It, a 1980 New York Times Notable Book, and Beyond Borders (2008), photo essays about American expatriate women. Known as hostess extraordinaire, avid reader, crossword puzzle expert, and cat lover, Charlotte loved the Pittsburgh Symphony, Leonard Cohen songs, and Big Band music. Charlotte was predeceased by siblings Miriam Fox and Sherwood Fox, and her son, Alexander Nicholas Fox Zabusky. She is survived by daughters Stacia Zabusky (Donald Spector) and Erica Zabusky (Mitch Stockton) and grandchildren, Antal, Elias, and Madeleine. Funeral services private. Donations in her memory can be made to the Alexander Zabusky Fund of JF&CS (5743 Bartlett Street; Pittsburgh, PA 15217) or Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (411 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1006; New York, NY 10016). pjc
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