![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/News-Obit-Amy-Katz.jpg\")
Anne Katz and her husband Mel Katz (Courtesy of the Katz family)<\/p>\n Anne Katz and her husband Mel Katz (Courtesy of the Katz family)<\/p>\n
Ellen Braunstein<\/p>\n
Anne Katz, a devoted mother, grandmother, sister and friend, died on Nov. 3 at age 78. A lifelong Philadelphian, she was known for her warmth, humor and devotion to family \u2014 and for the simple kindness she extended to everyone around her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was just an all-around good-hearted person,\u201d said her son, Steven Katz. \u201cShe was reliable, trustworthy and loving \u2014 always doing for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born on June 22, 1947, in Northeast Philadelphia, Anne grew up in a close-knit Jewish household where community and compassion were daily lessons. She attended Solomon Solis-Cohen Elementary School and Northeast High School, graduating in 1965. Her father ran a variety of small businesses before working as an insurance salesman for Prudential, while her mother, Sylvia, was a homemaker who filled the home with warmth and Jewish tradition. Katz shared a special bond with her younger brother, Arthur (Art) Shumsky, that lasted throughout their lives.<\/p>\n
As a teenager, Anne was active in United Synagogue Youth, where she developed a love of Jewish life and community involvement. \u201cThat\u2019s what inspired me to join USY, too,\u201d said her daughter, Andrea Keck. \u201cShe always spoke about how much those years meant to her.\u201d
Katz met her future husband, Melvin (Mel) Katz, at a friend\u2019s wedding, and the two quickly became inseparable. They married in 1969 and built a warm, joyful home together in Northeast Philadelphia, raising Andrea and Steven with a shared sense of humor and deep affection. \u201cThey were married 42 years, and they were truly a team,\u201d Keck said.<\/p>\n
For many years, Katz devoted herself to her family as a full-time mother. Once her children were in school, she worked part-time at Caplan\u2019s children\u2019s clothing store at Roosevelt Mall, a job she enjoyed for the social connections as much as the work itself. Later, she found her calling as an office manager in several dental and periodontal practices. \u201cShe really loved working in dentistry,\u201d Keck said. \u201cShe liked helping people and being part of a team that made others feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katz also gave her time as a volunteer with the Deborah Heart & Lung Center, inspired by her lifelong compassion for others and her belief in service.<\/p>\n
Her life was full of creative expression and joy. During the 1980s and \u201990s, she performed in community musical theater, singing and acting with a confidence that delighted friends and family. \u201cShe had a beautiful voice,\u201d Keck said. \u201cShe loved being on stage \u2014 it made her so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lifelong animal lover, Katz\u2019s affection for creatures of all kinds became one of her defining traits. As a girl, she was known for bringing home stray cats, geese and even a baby alligator once gifted by her father on a trip to Florida. As an adult, she kept dogs and parakeets. \u201cShe never smoked a day in her life,\u201d Keck said, \u201cbut she was allergic to the bird dander from her parakeets. Even after the doctors told her to give them up, she missed them so much she eventually got birds again. That\u2019s how much she loved animals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katz was happiest when surrounded by her family \u2014 especially her three grandchildren, Justin, Julia and Mason. \u201cShe called them her heartbeat,\u201d Andrea said. \u201cShe quit her job when I had my first child so she could come to my house every single day to take care of the baby. She\u2019d drive half an hour each way and stay all day, playing on the floor, feeding, changing, doing everything. Nobody loves your child like your mother \u2014 that\u2019s what she taught me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even after her husband died in 2012, Anne remained active and independent. She shared with her son a love of sports, often calling him to talk about the Phillies. \u201cShe was funny and fun to be around,\u201d he said. \u201cShe loved talking baseball and just staying connected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anne Katz lived her life guided by Jewish values of kindness and family. Though she never had the chance to visit Israel, it was a lifelong dream. \u201cShe had a ticket to go visit her longtime friend Renee, who moved there years ago,\u201d Steven said. \u201cShe\u2019d waited her whole life for that trip. But then she got sick and couldn\u2019t go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anne battled pulmonary fibrosis for several years, a condition that worsened over time despite her resilience and optimism. She spent her final two years at Masonic Village in Lafayette Hill, surrounded by family.<\/p>\n
Her children remember her as the heart of the family \u2014 a woman who gave everything she had to the people she loved. \u201cShe always put others first,\u201d Keck said. \u201cHer grandchildren were her world, and her love for them never wavered. That\u2019s what we\u2019ll remember most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anne Katz and her husband Mel Katz (Courtesy of the Katz family) Ellen Braunstein Anne Katz, a devoted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[20331,2327,13443,3026,2252,69,71,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-32211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-anne-katz","9":"tag-northeast-philadelphia","10":"tag-obit","11":"tag-obituaries","12":"tag-obituary","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","15":"tag-philadelphia-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32211","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=32211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}