Rita Edlin

RITA MELAMED EDLIN passed away peacefully in her Cincinnati home on Thursday, February 27, 2020. Rita Melamed was boring in Cleveland Ohio, November 2, 1929, four days after the stock market crash that caused the Great Depression. She later came to Cincinnati, where, in 1951 she married Dr. Philip Edlin, eventually settling in North Avondale where they raised four children. With her youngest child in elementary school, Rita enrolled at the School of Social Work at Ohio State University. Determined to earn her master’s degree, Rita commuted to Columbus several days a week. Seeking peace and quiet, Rita would do her homework sitting in her car, parked in the garage. After graduating, as a social worker in Hamilton, Ohio, Rita created a Homemaker Home Health Aide program, providing jobs for the unemployed, as well as caregiving for needy elders in the community. Additionally, she wrote an advice column for the local paper, Ask the Family Counselor, which later became a column for the American Israelite. Art and education were two of Rita’s life-long passions. She facilitated Junior Great Books, a discussion group that provided young students a space to express their ideas and think actively about books. As a docent at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Rita combined both of her passions by teaching visitors young and old to appreciate art as she walked them through history. Rita valued Jewish culture. She took great joy in her children and grandchildren’s understanding of their place within the Jewish world. To that end, she and Dr. Edlin enabled and encouraged their thorough Jewish education and appreciation for the Jewish homeland. She especially loved sharing Jewish culture, language, and history with her children and grandchildren. She was a lifelong learner and derived meaning from sharing her knowledge with visitors at the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum. Rita and Phil were devoted to the Cincinnati Jewish community and to Israel, which they visited often. They were proud to co-chair Cincinnati’s twenty-fourth anniversary celebration of Israel’s independence. When her mother, Frances Melamed, decided to write a book about her life’s journey, which began in Lithuania, Rita helped her piece together the notes and poems Frances had scribbled and collected over the years. Rita published the resulting book, Janova, which was the name of the small town where Frances was born. Rita was predeceased by her parents, Frances (Faigel) and Alex Melamed. She was the devoted sister of the late Dr. Myron Melamed and his late wife, Barbara Fingerman Melamed. Rita is survived by her loving husband of nearly 70 years, Dr. Philip Edlin, her four children and their spouses; Dr. Dale and Ms. Marla Edlin of New Jersey, Dr. Brian and Ms. Sara Edlin of New York, Mr. Jory Edlin and Ms. Carol Hackett of Cincinnati, and Dr. Lisa Edlin and Mr. Locke Lawrence of Massachusetts, her seven grandchildren: Joshua, Rachel, Benjamin, Sarah, Anina, Jakob, and Elizabeth, and her four great-grandchildren: Jack, Madison, Maya, and Ethan. Donations to the Skirball Museum at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati would be very meaningful to Rita, since she was a docent there.

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Rita Edlin

November 2, 1929 - February 27, 2020