When Beverly M. Feldman moved to Edenwald Senior Living late in life, her mailbox overflowed with letters from charities and causes seeking support. Most people would have tossed them aside. Feldman read every one. “She had a notebook where she tracked all the checks she wrote,” said her son, Andrew Feldman. “I’d tell her, ‘Mom, the more you give, the more mail you’ll get.’ She’d laugh and say, ‘I know, but I got one today from someone who really needs help.’”
That steady generosity defined Feldman’s life, toward her family, community and the Jewish institutions she cherished. The longtime Baltimore resident, volunteer leader and business pioneer died on Sept. 28 at 93.
Born Beverly Marilyn Schreter in 1932, she grew up on Glen Avenue in northwest Baltimore surrounded by a large extended family. “She lived a charmed childhood,” her son said. “Her grandparents lived nearby in what we called the big house, where they kept horses. She’d ride them before elementary school, come home to shower and then head to class.”
Her parents, Sidney and Gene Schreter, were deeply involved in Jewish life, and her father and grandfather helped found Beth Jacob Congregation. “My grandfather was Shomer Shabbos, so he’d walk to synagogue every week,” Andrew Feldman said. “That commitment to faith stayed with my mom her whole life.”
Beverly attended Arlington Elementary and Forest Park High School before entering the University of Maryland at 17. A sociology major and member of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority, she graduated in three and a half years with the highest GPA of any woman in her class. “She was wicked smart,” her son said. “She’d knit during lectures, and one professor joked that the class should take notes whenever she put her knitting down.”
She married Dr. Arnold Feldman, an endodontist, beginning a love story that lasted more than seven decades. “They were married for almost 68 years and were together for 72,” Andrew Feldman said. “So many of their friends said they wanted to be like Beverly and Arnold. They truly completed each other.”
During her husband’s service as an Air Force dentist, the couple lived in Denver and on Cape Cod before returning to Baltimore.
After settling back in her hometown, she turned her attention to community life. She rose through the ranks of the Sinai Hospital Auxiliary, serving as president from 1974 to 1976.
“She was a force,” Andrew Feldman said. “She always spoke her mind, and she made things happen.” She also devoted many years, including as a board member, to CHAI — Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc. — a Jewish nonprofit serving northwest Baltimore.
Her Jewish identity remained strong throughout her life. The Feldmans were longtime members of Beth El Congregation, where they developed close relationships with several rabbis, including Rabbi Steven Schwartz and Rabbi Dana Saroken, who later officiated at her funeral. “My mother went to Israel with a Beth El group and became very close with Rabbi Saroken,” Andrew Feldman said. “They’d share Shabbat dinners and long talks about life and faith.”
In midlife, Feldman pivoted professionally. After taking a women-in-business course at Goucher College, she entered commercial real estate, working for Latshaw Real Estate Brokers and later Hill Management as a leasing agent. She eventually sold advertising for the nonprofit radio station WYPR. “She wanted to prove women could succeed in business just like men,” her son Roger Feldman said. “She was ahead of her time.”
Feldman approached her leisure activities with the same energy. At 35, she learned tennis so she and her husband could play together. At 45, she took up skiing. “When my brother and I signed up for a ski trip to Lake Tahoe, the organizers told my dad there was no chaperone,” Andrew Feldman recalled. “Without hesitation, Mom said, ‘I’ll take the boys — and maybe I’ll learn to ski.’ She joined ski school at Heavenly Mountain Resort and never looked back.”
At 65, she started playing golf, despite back trouble. “She said, ‘With three bulging discs, I still took golf lessons,’” Andrew Feldman said. “That was her attitude; nothing slowed her down.”
Sailing became another family passion. The Feldmans kept a boat in Eastport, Annapolis, and named it Arpeggio. “They’d read sailing magazines in bed at night,” Andrew Feldman said. “She even crewed in races with my brother. She did everything with huge gusto.”
Music filled their home. “You’d always hear classical music when you walked in,” Andrew Feldman said. “They loved the symphony, the opera and the summer festival at Tanglewood in Massachusetts.”
After her husband’s death in 2021, Feldman continued to live with purpose at Edenwald. She stayed current on world events, read widely and maintained a wide circle of friends.
“She was loving, funny, fearless and generous,” Andrew Feldman said.
Her family said she would want to be remembered for her love of family, community and Judaism. “She was always giving — giving to your community, to your family, to those in need and to honor your Jewish heritage,” Andrew Feldman said.
Feldman’s life was an unbroken thread of curiosity, generosity and devotion. “She never needed recognition,” he said. “She just wanted to make life better for the people around her.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
