Ellen (Elka) Goldstein Benswanger Sucov

SUCOV: Ellen (Elka) Goldstein Benswanger Sucov passed away quietly of natural causes in the early morning of Oct. 21 in Jerusalem, Israel. She was 93 years old. Ellen is survived by her devoted children, Lynn (Steve) Benswanger, Berwyn, Pennsylvania, and Shimon/Jim (Rochel) Benswanger, Telz-Stone, Israel, several adoring Israeli grandchildren and many treasured Israeli great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her stepchildren, Joshua, Henry and Andrew Sucov. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Eugene. Ellen was born in Buffalo, New York. She attended Lafayette High School in Buffalo and then the School of Music at Carnegie Institute of Technology (“Carnegie Tech,” now CMU) in Pittsburgh. Throughout her life, Ellen was sustained by her passion for music and those who made it. She began taking piano lessons when she was 3 years old and in her teens she spent her summers at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, where she played with the youth orchestra. In the summer of 1949, she met her future husband, Bill Benswanger, also a musician who had recently graduated from Carnegie Tech. After her marriage, Ellen moved to Pittsburgh and attended Duquesne University, where in 1965 she earned a B.S. in music education and sang with the student chorus. She went on to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology at Duquesne. She worked as a public school psychologist with the Pittsburgh Board of Education and later with the Head Start program as well as with the Office of Education and Regional Programming at the Western Psychiatric Institute, University of Pittsburgh. Ellen and Bill divorced amicably in 1969 and remained friends throughout her lifetime. Ellen especially cherished her ongoing relationship with her mother-in-law, Eleanor Benswanger. In 1970, a close childhood friend persuaded Ellen to join her on what turned out to be a life-changing 10-day tour of Israel. She returned for brief visits whenever she could and spent the year 1975-1976 serving as a visiting psychologist at the Jerusalem Mental Health Clinic. In 1982, Ellen married Eugene Sucov, a physicist then working at Westinghouse. After retirement, she and Gene divided their lives between Pittsburgh and Jerusalem for several years and then between Providence, Rhode Island, and Jerusalem for four years. In 2013, they moved permanently to Jerusalem and made aliya the following year. In Israel, Ellen remained active in her dedication to helping others. She formed and led therapeutic support groups, including one for those facing the challenges of caring for a spouse with dementia and another for women navigating the complexities of living without a partner. Ellen will be remembered for her abundant kindness, empathy and generosity, her devotion to family, Yiddishkeit and Eretz Yisrael, and her ability to reach out to those in need of comfort and compassion. She was a rare and special woman who brought light to the lives of all who were fortunate enough to know her. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Jewish National Fund, American Friends of Yad Sarah, or a charity of your choice. PJC