![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/News-Obit-Frebowitz-214x300.jpg\")
Brenda Frebowitz (Courtesy of the family)<\/p>\nBrenda Frebowitz (Courtesy of the family)<\/p>\n
Brenda Frebowitz, a longtime Women\u2019s American ORT member who filled her home with family celebrations, organizational meetings and friends gathered over many decades, died July 18 in Bryn Mawr. She was 82.<\/p>\n
Frebowitz had a gift for holding on to people. She remained close to childhood friends, women she met through ORT, card-playing partners, water aerobics classmates and members of Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe never let one go,\u201d said Gerri Fish, who knew Frebowitz from elementary school and later worked with her in ORT. \u201cShe had many, many friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born Brenda Needleman on May 19, 1944, Frebowitz grew up in Philadelphia\u2019s Wynnefield neighborhood. Her parents were Nathan \u201cNate\u201d and Evelyn Needleman. Her mother died when Frebowitz was about 12, and a housekeeper helped care for her and her two brothers while her father worked as a florist at Gimbels.<\/p>\n
Frebowitz attended Overbrook High School. Although she sometimes joked that she had not been the strongest student, her husband, Jerry Frebowitz, said she loved school and especially valued the friendships she made there. She served on her class reunion committee for decades and remained close to several childhood friends for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n
After high school, she took a clerical job at a publishing company but did not enjoy the work. While visiting a friend employed at a store with several retail concessions, she learned that Jerry Frebowitz was hiring for his jewelry and gift shop.<\/p>\n
She approached him for a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking for an employee,\u201d Jerry Frebowitz said. \u201cAfter a while, it didn\u2019t take long. I realized I couldn\u2019t be without her.\u201d<\/p>\n
They began meeting for coffee and eating together at Horn & Hardart. They married in January 1965 during a major Philadelphia snowstorm and remained together for close to 62 years.<\/p>\n
Frebowitz had never learned to cook while growing up, but after her marriage she bought a loose-leaf Betty Crocker cookbook and taught herself. She prepared dinner nearly every night and later became known among friends and relatives for her brisket.<\/p>\n
Frebowitz also became known in Philadelphia for her brownies. After radio personality Ken Garland met her at the family business, Frebowitz offered to bake him a batch of the light-colored brownies she regularly made. Garland called them \u201cBrenda\u2019s brownies\u201d on the air. Listeners began requesting the recipe, and the station printed copies to distribute.<\/p>\n
The couple had two sons, Edward, born in 1967, and Michael, born five years later.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, the Frebowitzes started a mail-order movie business at their kitchen table. They pasted together catalogs and answered requests from customers. Originally called Brenda\u2019s Movie House, the company was renamed Movies Unlimited after their young son Edward suggested a more businesslike name.<\/p>\n
As the company expanded, Frebowitz stepped away from its daily operations to concentrate on raising the couple\u2019s sons. Jerry Frebowitz said she supported the business from its earliest days and was always ready to help when needed.<\/p>\n
During the same period, she became involved with Women\u2019s American ORT, now ORT America. She learned about the organization through women she met at Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim, where the family belonged for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n
ORT\u2019s commitment to education and vocational training appealed to her.<\/p>\n
Fish said Frebowitz believed strongly in helping people gain independence and dignity through education. She was also drawn to an organization rooted in Jewish values and charitable work.<\/p>\n
Frebowitz participated in meetings, fundraising events, art shows and a large annual flea market held in the Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center parking lot. Meetings were frequently held at the Frebowitz home.<\/p>\n
She also worked for the ORT thrift shop and served as a chapter president for about two years during the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Fish said Frebowitz was not someone who sought recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a leader in the way that she participated and gave her heart and her soul and her money,\u201d Fish said.<\/p>\n
Her ORT friendships endured for roughly half a century.<\/p>\n
Frebowitz and her husband raised their sons in a Jewish home. The boys attended Hebrew school, celebrated their bar mitzvahs and confirmations and spent summers at the predominantly Jewish Camp Nock-A-Mixon. Family gatherings for Rosh Hashanah, Passover, break fast, Mother\u2019s Day and Father\u2019s Day were regularly held at the Frebowitz home.<\/p>\n
Passover could draw more than 20 people, with every guest assigned a reading.<\/p>\n
Frebowitz also played tennis, mahjong and canasta. She formed another circle of friends through water aerobics at Cabrini College.<\/p>\n
Her family remained at the center of her life. She called her sons almost every day and stayed closely connected to her grandchildren, Arden, Camryn, Hannah and Bryce.<\/p>\n
Jerry Frebowitz described his wife as consistently good-natured and optimistic. When he became critical or impatient, she reminded him to be kind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t say anything good, don\u2019t say anything at all,\u201d she would tell him.<\/p>\n
Later in life, Frebowitz faced serious health problems, including declining vision and four years of dialysis. She continued playing cards by asking friends what was on the table and remembering the plays. Fish called her \u201cthe least complaining person I ever knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Frebowitz said his wife taught him to compromise, to look for the good in people and, in his words, \u201cto be a mensch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe kept me from being a sourpuss,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was just good all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance obituary writer. She welcomes suggestions for individuals who had meaningful ties to the Philadelphia Jewish community. Email csix@midatlanticmedia.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brenda Frebowitz (Courtesy of the family) Brenda Frebowitz, a longtime Women\u2019s American ORT member who filled her home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[182,77194,2252,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-260483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-local-news","tag-news-obit","tag-obituary","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}