Obituary of Diana Leonora Berman

Diana Leonora Berman (nee Styler), 84, the daughter of Benjamin Styler and Betty Schwartz, of Montclair passed away on November 3, 2016 at Van Dyk Manor of Montclair. She was born at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on July 14, 1932, where her uncle Serge Schwartz a student at Columbia University Medical School assisted in her birth. She grew up in Washington Heights, NY where she attended PS 132. She then passed the rigorous entrance exam in 1946 and attended the prestigious Bronx High School of Science, which was the first year girls were admitted. At Bronx Science she was a member of Arista (the New York City Public School variant name for the National Honor Society), the Art Studio, Girls Guidance Squad, French Club, Forum and the Art Club. She graduated in 3 ½ yeas in January 1950. She then went to Hunter College for one semester, where during that time she was privileged to be one of the students invited to meet Eleanor Roosevelt for brunch at her home across the street from the college. She then transferred to the University of Michigan where she received a Bachelor of Arts in 1953 and a Masters of Social Work in 1955. In 1966 she received a degree as a Certified Social Worker from the University of the State of New York Education Department and did post-graduate work at the Columbia University School of Social Work in 1970. Diana went on to receive a Diplomate from the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work and became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in both New York and New Jersey. After 25 years as an active member of the National Association of Social Workers and reaching the age 65, she received her NASW Gold Card in 1998. After her graduation from the University of Michigan, she began what would become a nearly 40-year career in Social Work, starting as a caseworker at the Jewish Social Service Bureau in Detroit 1955-56. She also edited the newspaper of the Alumni Association for the School of Social Work in 1956 and during her career would continue to contribute articles to various professional journals. She then returned to New York where she got a job with the Jewish Childcare Association from 1956-59. Although she had nothing to do with the case, she was proud to work for an organization that had the courage to place the orphaned Rosenberg children with the Meeropol family. On November 17, 1956 Diana married Irwin Berman in Warwick, New York. Irwin was a Mechanical Engineer and decorated WWII veteran who fought in Europe including in The Battle of the Bulge and earning a Purple Heart. Diana and Irwin moved to the Bronx and had a son, David Abram Berman who was born on January 18, 1958, but sadly had spina bifida and passed away only 3 ½ weeks later on February 11. They would go on two have two more sons, Kenneth Howard Berman and Benjamin Seth Berman, and Diana took a break from her career to raise her young boys. In 1966 the family moved to Riverdale in the Bronx and Diana resumed her career, first working briefly for the Playschool Association in New York City, and then from 1967-70, the Neurological Services at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. While at Montefiore, with a co-worker Judy Spiess, who would become a close friend, she joined Women Strike for Peace, an anti-war organization that had been founded by among others Bella Abzug. On one occasion, Diana and Judy were asked to pick up someone at the airport for a meeting at Andrea Simon’s house in Riverdale. (Andrea Simon, a Civil Rights Activist, was the wife a Richard L. Simon the founder of Simon & Shuster, and the mother of singer Carly Simon.) As it turned out, they were sent to pick up Coretta Scott King. During their car ride they discussed their children, rather than the weighty issues of the day. Still later, with the Women Strike for Peace, Diana and Judy participated in one of the marches on Washington against the Vietnam War, and as the police began to lob tear gas towards the protesters, they were lucky enough to be near the back of the crowd and were able to duck into a hotel. From 1970-71 Diana was a pediatric caseworker at Jewish Memorial Hospital in Manhattan. She was also a member of the Child Study Association of America where she was on the book review committee in 1970 and 1971. In June of 1971 the family re-located to Montclair, New Jersey as Irwin’s company had relocated to New Jersey and the reverse commute became arduous. From 1971-81 Diana was the pediatric social worker, child abuse coordinator, and a member of the speakers bureau at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair/Glen Ridge. During the same period she was a consultant to the Association for the Children of New Jersey in Bloomfield, New Jersey. She advocated and lobbied to help in the formation of the Division of Youth and Family Services in New Jersey. She was a member of the Inter-Agency Council of Bloomfield from 1977-81 where she was Vice-President from 1977-79 and President from 1979-81. On March 9, 1978 she appeared in a photograph alongside her colleagues noting her position as program chairperson for the Council. On October 22, 1980 she was appointed by Arthur J. Blake the Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey to a three year appointment to the Essex County Review Board as mandated by the Child Placement Review Act for which she received a letter of congratulations on December 18, 1980 from Assemblyman Buddy Fortunato on her appointment and there was a write-up in the newspaper. She also was a member of the Association for Children of New Jersey. In 1981 Diana Berman was listed in Who’s Who of American Women. After a brief period of work at the Daughters of Israel Nursing Home in 1982, from 1982-84 she was a school social worker for the West Essex Regional Schools in West Caldwell, New Jersey. This was followed by a job as the psychiatric social worker at Essex County Hospital Center in Cedar Grove, New Jersey from 1984-1993 where she also became a member of the Service Employees International Union, after which she retired. After retirement Diana remained active. She served a member of the Senior Citizen’s Advisory Committee of Montclair from 1994 until sometime after 2006. She was a longtime member of the League of Women Voters. From 1995 she was a member of the West Essex Chapter 131 of the American Association of Retired Persons, where she was at one time a Member of the Board and also served as the Legislative Chairperson in which capacity she helped set up candidates’ debates for the membership as part of the AARP/Vote Congressional Team. In 1995 Diana attended the White House Conference on Aging hosted by then Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna E. Shalala. Her suggestion had led to one of the pre-conference events held on February 11, 1995, sponsored by The League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area, and entitled: Re: Ethical Issues in Financing Long Term Care, and was held in Upper Montclair. On May 1, 2000 the West Essex Chapter 131 of the AARP presented her with an award in recognition to her service to the chapter. She served on the Senior Citizen’s Advisory Board for Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. On April 19, 1999 she was presented a Special Award in appreciation of Outstanding Service to the Community by the AARP. An article and photograph appeared in The Montclair Times on June 24, 1999. An article about the subsequent Candidates Forum appeared in The Montclair Times on October 14, 1999. On March 26, 2000 she was presented a Certificate of Appreciation by the YWCA of Montclair-North Essex as one of their Women You Should Know in 2000. On that same date, a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition was presented to Diana by Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. in recognition of outstanding and invaluable service to the community as one of the YWCA of Montclair-North Essex / Women You Should Know in 2000. Additionally she was presented a State of New Jersey Assembly Commendation by Nia H. Gill for the same service with articles about the award appearing in both the February 24 and March 23 editions of The Montclair Times. At this time she also served as a member of the board of the Montclair Inn for which she did fundraising. Additionally, when the apartment she lived in turned into a condominium she became active, even serving on the condo board and participating as a longtime-member of the budget committee. In March of 2011 Diana moved to Van Dyk Manor of Montclair where she would spend the remaining years of her life under the extraordinary care of the nurses, aides and staff at the facility who she considered her friends and new family. During the last years of her life she was under the care of the doctors and staff of Mountainside Family Practice. In her last 14 months she was also lucky to receive care from the doctors and staff at Essex Oncology of North Jersey as well as the nurses and staff of the Infusion Center at Mountainside Hospital. She contributed to numerous organizations, among them, Planned Parenthood; New Jersey Peace Action; National Organization for Women; Doctors Without Borders; UNICEF; Human Needs Food Pantry; United Way; Montclair Shared Housing Association; Montclair Volunteer Ambulance Unit and the Montclair Art Museum. She loved travel and crisscrossed the United States and Canada with her family, but later would wear out numerous passports travelling the world to Argentina, the Soviet Union (twice, one time getting lost in the Hermitage Museum), the Netherlands, England, France, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, and Finland, going on a Mediterranean cruise, and visiting a Caribbean resort. In her travels she would collect dolls in the costumes of their countries. Diana loved classical music, having fallen in love with it as a child at her mother’s introduction. Her mother had such a beautiful singing voice that it led to a scholarship to the University of Odessa where she studied music and went on to receive a dental degree. Diana’s uncle, Al Schwartz, would get classical records from the Davega store where he worked and they would play them on the Victrola that her grandmother Eva Schwartz owned. Diana would dance to the records in ballet shoes bought for her by her uncle Serge. Her love of classical music would extend throughout her life as she would always listen to it on WQXR. When children in the pediatric departments where Diana worked would come to her office and were feeling anxious about being in the hospital under difficult circumstances, Diana found that music would always be a calming influence. She also loved folk music and that combined with her love of dance led her to join a folk dancing group in Montclair that gave her years of pleasure. She was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club of Montclair and the ABC Singles Group in Montclair. Additionally she had an eye for art and both painted and sculpted and patronized the Montclair Art Museum. She would go to concerts and the ballet in New York -- once lucky enough to see the Bolshoi Ballet. In addition to being pre-deceased by her son David, she is also pre-deceased by her parents and her ex-husband Irwin. Her survivors include her sons Kenneth and Benjamin, numerous cousins on both her Styler and Schwartz sides, and many friends too numerous to name. Donations can be made in her name to any of the numerous charities and organizations (mentioned above) to which she donated or belonged.