A university professor, the best-selling author of 21 books on everything from management textbooks to humorous verse, a syndicated columnist, international keynote speaker, and notable feminist, Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D., 96, died on March 15.<\/p>\n
She was a longtime resident of White Sands Retirement Center in La Jolla and had been a columnist for La Jolla Village News.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, my mother died peacefully at home,\u201d said her surviving daughter, Nina Josefowitz. \u201cWe will all miss her very much. I know you will also miss her wit and wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nina said her mother, in the few days before her death, dictated a message to her readers from her hospital bed. It reads: \u201cThis is the last column I will be writing. I have been writing to you for 40 years. You may not know it, but I will be 97 and I think my time has come to put down my pen. Thank you for all your comments and letters. One of the highlights of my life has been writing this column and hearing from all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kati Mikes-Papp, Josefowitz\u2019s office assistant who said Natasha used to refer to her as her \u201coffice daughter,\u201d said Josefowitz had \u201ca sense of royalty about her\u201d right down to the elaborate earrings she wore that were \u201crenowned for perfectly matching her outfits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of Natasha\u2019s character, Kati said: \u201cShe made everyone feel like they were heard and validated, and she inspired them to keep going. The life story of Natasha Josefowitz is a story of words. The words she spoke and wrote guided and inspired people around the world for over 50 years. In her books, her speeches, and her hundreds of articles, Natasha dispensed knowledge, wisdom, advice, insight, inspiration, and humor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Schwab, a San Diego Community Newspaper Group reporter who was a longtime friend of Josefowitz, noted Natasha always referred to herself as his \u201cJewish mother.”<\/p>\n
“Besides her overwhelming intelligence, there was an overpowering warmth that always shone through,\u201d said Schwab, who shared lunches with her at White Sands. \u201cShe always treated me as family. I found that to be a rare and endearing quality. It is something I will always miss, along with her incisive wit and disarming charm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born on Halloween, Natasha would say that made her \u201ca certified witch.\u201d Natasha called herself a \u201clate bloomer,\u201d having earned her master\u2019s degree in social work at age 40 and her Ph.D. in social psychology at 50.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe taught the first class in the country for ‘Women in Business’\u00a0at the University of New Hampshire, followed by San Diego State University,\u201d Kati said adding Natasha\u2019s mission in life was \u201cto be an empowerer and trailblazer. Her ground-breaking work began opening doors for other women entering the workforce. Her entire career focused on empowering women through her writing, teaching, and public lectures on women\u2019s issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years, Natasha received numerous accolades. Amongst her most memorable were becoming one of the first women to join the San Diego Rotary Club, receiving the \u201cLiving Legacy Award\u201d from the Women\u2019s International Center, and being inducted into the San Diego Women\u2019s Hall of Fame in 2015. San Diego Business Journal named her one of San Diego\u2019s \u201cTop Guns.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her later years, Natasha turned her focus to empowering seniors to live full and purposeful lives. Her wish was to help women and men celebrate their increasing number of years and find meaning in their lives while having fun addressing the pleasures and pitfalls of aging.<\/p>\n
\u201cNatasha was always ready for her next new adventure, acknowledging the necessity for risk-taking,\u201d said Kati. \u201cHer secret to being a successful ager was to be active, involved in a community, and daring to be innovative. Her advice to others was: \u2018Live your life so that by the time you are my age you would have done everything, been everywhere, said everything, with no regrets and no remorse.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNatasha told it like it was. She never minced words. I was scolded a few times when the La Jolla Village News was late arriving at White Sands or there weren\u2019t enough to go around. I loved her direct, honest approach,\u201d said Julie Main, publisher of San Diego Community Newspaper Group. \u201cShe was genuinely interested in people and their lives. She listened and you felt the connection. A mentor to many, she was a dear friend to me and she will be missed by many.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natasha\u2019s hobbies included writing poetry, reading medical journals, doing needlepoint, and emailing jokes to family and receptive friends. Whenever she was asked how she was, Natasha would always reply, \u201cAmazing,\u201d said Kati who shared that Natasha \u201cwas an indomitable powerhouse with all her energy, compassion, intelligence, incredible wit, and insatiable curiosity. She embraced and celebrated life. She remained a force to be reckoned with to the very end. This exceptional woman, legendary pioneer, and remarkable role model will be sorely missed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natasha Josefowitz (1926\u20132023) was the wife of the late Herman Gadon, Ph.D., mother of Nina and the late Paul Josefowitz; grandmother of Laura Stahl, Aaron and Daniel Myran, and Nicholas Josefowitz; great-grandmother of Cole and Quinn Stahl, Oliver and Max Myran, Alec and Ben Josefowitz; and sister of the late Alec Chapro.<\/p>\n
Born in Paris, France, she came to the United States to escape the Nazis in 1939. She was a bestselling author of 21 books, including critically acclaimed management textbooks and award-winning books of humorous verse. Her book \u201cPaths to Power: a woman\u2019s guide from first job to top executive,\u201d became a classic. She was an international keynote speaker, syndicated columnist, and frequent guest on local and national talk shows.<\/p>\n
Later in life, Natasha was widely recognized for her pioneering work on growing older and for authoring best-selling books such as \u201cToo Wise to Want To Be Young Again\u201d and \u201cBeen There, Done That, Doing It Better!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Washington Post noted: \u201cNatasha Josefowitz is helping her generation, and those that follow, find their way into a successful, meaningful and fun older age\u2026 her optimism about aging is inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donations in memory of Natasha Josefowitz can be made to: Natasha\u2019s Scholars Fund, White Sands La Jolla, 7450 Olivetas Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037.<\/p>\n
May her memory be a blessing.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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