Judith Weil Preiss
September 2, 1937 - May 28, 2022

JUDITH WEIL PREISS: Judith Weil Preiss died on May 28, 2022, at her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was born to Evelyn “Mei Mei” and Charles “Papa Charlie” Rosen on September 2, 1937, in St. Louis, MO, and is survived by her younger brother Robert Rosen of Uruguay and pre-deceased by her late sister, Francis “Franny” Suess. She is also survived by her children and their spouses Jennifer Preiss and Russell Kowalik of Pittsburgh, PA; Jeremy and Tamara Preiss of Arlington, VA; and Jessica and David Lunken of Baltimore, MD; as well as her grandchildren, Rachael Tillman and her husband Ben Stephenson, Zachary Tillman and his fiancé, Shannon Vesely, and Eli Tillman, Madeleine and Ben Preiss, and Isabel, Talia, and Nadya Lunken. Judith Preiss was an avid reader and prolific artist who expressed herself best through her Art of various mediums. She majored in silversmithing at Washington University in St. Louis. However, she focused on oil and acrylic painting and later expanded to different mediums, including clay sculpture. She was an active member of the “Art Divas”, a group of women who regularly gathered and frequently exhibited their artwork and did commissions. In the 1960’s, her work was displayed at the Smithsonian museums and later appeared at juried and non-juried shows, including Art in the Park in Davis, California, multiple galleries in Michigan, and later in art shows in Pittsburgh, PA. Judith also worked at the University of California at Davis (UCD) as a scientific draftsman and later as a freelancer both at UCD and Michigan State University. As a second-grade teacher’s aide for nearly a decade at Davis Elementary school, where her children attended, she shared her talent and love of teaching, inspiring future generations to leverage their creativity. Judith was well-known for visiting her grandchildren, bearing lots of new art projects to do with them and spending hours with them teaching embroidery, knitting, sketching, painting, and other crafts she regularly engaged in. She was also well-known for making friends everywhere she went, including friends who spanned multiple generations. Judith, over the years, regularly met her friends at the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh for aerobics and strength classes, and then followed by coffee. A service and shiva will commence in Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, another celebration of life memorial service will be held in Pittsburgh, PA, in late July. Those who wish to remember Judith in a special way may make gifts to the Pittsburgh Glass Center (https://public.pittsburghglasscenter.org/web/donateguest) or Gabby Giffords Courage to Stop Gun Violence (https://secure.actblue.com/donate/giffords-website?refcode=site_top_nav). Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. www.schugar.com

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Judith was should a good person. She and our mother Rose Mallinger met at the JCC on the walking track and became good friends, they would go to movies, out to lunch, the farmers market, her kind sole will be missed.