Obituary of Suzanne H. Roniger

Suzanne (Sue) Hadassah Roniger died on Aug. 26 at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, NY, at the age of 84 due to complications of Parkinson’s disease. She is survived by her daughters Lori Roniger (Nathan Hays) and Amber (Lisa) Roniger, and grandchildren Pita and Judy Elhauge-Roniger. She is predeceased by her husband of 62 years, George Roniger, who died last year, her parents Ruth (Weinstein) Liebman and Sam Liebman, and George’s parents Egon and Gisele (Maresse) Roniger.

Suzanne was born in New York City to parents who had fled pogroms and untenable conditions as Jews in Europe. Sue’s mother, Ruth, and her family immigrated from Poland around the 1920s, and Sam immigrated from Ukraine. 

Ruth’s family had been Hasidic Jews when living in Poland but cast off those traditions to live secular nonreligious lives in New York. Sue’s parents divorced while she growing up. Her family had limited financial means, and she lived closely with her first cousins and other family members.

Education was important to Sue. After graduating from Forest Hills High School in Queens, she attended Queens College. 

When she was 19, she was set up on a blind date with George through a mutual friend. She found him to be adventurous and different from the other men she had dated. It soon became clear to both of them that they would get married, which they did in early 1962, shortly before she turned 21. They went skiing in Vermont for their honeymoon and soon moved to Easton, PA, where George began a job as a economics professor at Lafayette College. 

Sue was excited to be able to move out of her family home, as marriage provided one of the only ways for her to do that at that time, and she was glad to leave the New York City area and pursue a different path than her peers. However, she still had one semester left of college. She said that Lafayette College let her finish her last semester as the first female student there. She graduated with a major in biology, which was somewhat unusual for a woman at that time.

Although she was by no means a traditional woman for her time, she thought it was important after getting married to learn to cook the Viennese and Jewish food that George was used to his mother making. Sue said she hadn’t learned significant cooking skills growing up in her family home and that they just had unappetizing “boiled meat.” Sue could be critical at times but also had a nonchalant wittiness.

Sue and George lived in an area in Easton some of his colleagues thought unsavory, but they saved their money to travel in Europe. After their time in Easton, they moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where George worked for government organizations and Sue worked as a scientist for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She later told her daughters about her then long hair catching on fire in the lab.

Sue and George returned to live in the New York City area in the early 1970s when he accepted a job offer in Manhattan. They bought their first and only home in the unincorporated area of the Westchester County suburb of Mamaroneck, and Sue enrolled in a master’s degree program in psychology. While she was in school, she gave birth to both of her daughters within 16 months and completed her degree. 

Sue very much enjoyed working outside the home, but had her hands full taking care of two young children and with limited child care options at that time. Once the kids were both in full-time school, she returned to work as a school psychologist for New York City public schools, while also regularly picking up her kids from after-school activities and making dinner. 

Sue and George found it important to give their children extracurricular opportunities that they hadn’t had growing up in poor immigrant families. They also took their children on many traveling adventures, including to France, England, and Ecuador, and on ski vacations sometimes with family friends. Sue raised her 1970s Gen X daughters to believe they could do it all and didn’t need to learn to cook and clean like previous generations of women; school, other activities, independence, and thinking for yourself were more important. 

By the late 1980s, Sue was ready to do different work, left her job, earned a master’s degree in social work from New York University, and became a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. She maintained a private practice, seeing children, adults, and couples.

Sue took joy in having two grandchildren, visiting them in San Francisco, having them stay at her home, and traveling with them, including to Italy before the Covid pandemic. 

Sue and George loved their home at the top of a hill with many steps to the front door in which they lived for more than 50 years. They added onto it when the children were growing up, and entertained family and friends there. Close friends were important to Sue, and she enjoyed throwing small dinner parties for New Year’s Eve and at other times.

Unfortunately, in 2023, both of their health issues made it impossible for them to continue living in their beloved home. They reluctantly moved to an assisted living apartment at the Osborn nearby in Rye, and Sue closed her psychotherapy practice. 

Sue and George were very much a unit, and George’s death in 2024 was very hard for her, as well as not being used to being in full retirement. She moved to The Kensington assisted living in White Plains, where she enjoyed going to tai chi classes and was making new friends.

She will be missed by her family and friends. 

A funeral will be held on Sunday, Aug. 31, at Fox Funeral Home at 2080 Boston Post Road in Larchmont. The family will receive visitors starting at 9 a.m., and the service, which will also be available via livestream, will begin at 9:30 a.m. Interment will follow immediately at Mt. Eden Cemetery (20 Commerce St., Hawthorne, NY).

The family will observe shiva at The Kensington on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.

Condolences may be sent Lori at LoriRoniger@gmail.com and 23 Esquina Drive, San Francisco, CA 94134, and Amber at amber@findingtara.com and 9 James St., Rosendale, NY 12472.

May Sue’s memory be a blessing.