Judy Lee Fisher
Judy Lee Fisher (née Benmayor) was born on December 12, 1949 in Cincinnati, Ohio and died on November 15, 2019 in Pasadena, California.
Judy was born to a Sephardic immigrant family. Her parents, Anna and Joseph, came to the United States from Salonica, Greece when they were children, and their families settled in Price Hill, Cincinnati. Judy was born there, the youngest of three sisters.
When Judy was five, her family moved to Los Angeles. She was raised in Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley, and graduated from Birmingham High School. For college, she planned to attend Ohio State but opted for the University of Cincinnati, which allowed her to be closer to family. After the Kent State shootings forced a temporary closure of Ohio schools, Judy decided to finish her degree at UCLA. She received her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1971.
In her last year of undergrad, Judy met David Weil, to whom she was married for 10 years and with whom she had her only child, Jessica Weil. Prior to having Jessica, Judy worked at the Long Beach Public Library. She also taught arts and crafts through the Long Beach Recreation Department and was a few semesters shy of receiving her second B.A. in Fine Art from Cal State Long Beach.
While raising Jessica and working full-time in the Education Department at Cal State Long Beach, Judy took one night class per semester for seven years in order to get her Masters in Counseling from Cal State in 1995.
Judy met her second husband Rick Fisher in 1986 at a Parents Without Partners dance. They married and moved to Pasadena in 1998.
Judy was a career counselor at Long Beach City College and Cypress College from 1995-1998, the head of Occidental College’s Career Development Center from 1997-2006 and the Director of Career Services at Harvey Mudd College from 2006 to her retirement in the Spring of 2018.
In October 2019, Judy was diagnosed with advanced bile duct cancer and died the following month.
Judy was an extremely intelligent, beautiful, charismatic, open-hearted, creative, out-going, artistic and fun human being, and she was a wonderful wife, loving mother and doting grandmother. She loved her dogs, all living things and all things beautiful. She was an avid collector, first of miniatures and then of rare Lenci dolls, becoming a presenter and sought-out expert around the world. She loved history and the arts and architecture, enjoying all the Pasadena area had to offer as well as in her travels abroad.
Judy was truly a force of nature and one of this life’s brightest lights.
She is survived by Rick Fisher, her husband and partner of 33 years, her sisters Lucy Block (Philip) and Faye Friedman (Jim), and her daughter Jessica Weil, son-in-law Brian Diedrick and two granddaughters, Simone and Dorothy Diedrick.
At Judy's request, the family will hold a celebration of life party in 2020. If anyone would like to honor Judy, we'd recommend doing so with a donation to the Pasadena Humane Society.
Judy was born to a Sephardic immigrant family. Her parents, Anna and Joseph, came to the United States from Salonica, Greece when they were children, and their families settled in Price Hill, Cincinnati. Judy was born there, the youngest of three sisters.
When Judy was five, her family moved to Los Angeles. She was raised in Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley, and graduated from Birmingham High School. For college, she planned to attend Ohio State but opted for the University of Cincinnati, which allowed her to be closer to family. After the Kent State shootings forced a temporary closure of Ohio schools, Judy decided to finish her degree at UCLA. She received her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1971.
In her last year of undergrad, Judy met David Weil, to whom she was married for 10 years and with whom she had her only child, Jessica Weil. Prior to having Jessica, Judy worked at the Long Beach Public Library. She also taught arts and crafts through the Long Beach Recreation Department and was a few semesters shy of receiving her second B.A. in Fine Art from Cal State Long Beach.
While raising Jessica and working full-time in the Education Department at Cal State Long Beach, Judy took one night class per semester for seven years in order to get her Masters in Counseling from Cal State in 1995.
Judy met her second husband Rick Fisher in 1986 at a Parents Without Partners dance. They married and moved to Pasadena in 1998.
Judy was a career counselor at Long Beach City College and Cypress College from 1995-1998, the head of Occidental College’s Career Development Center from 1997-2006 and the Director of Career Services at Harvey Mudd College from 2006 to her retirement in the Spring of 2018.
In October 2019, Judy was diagnosed with advanced bile duct cancer and died the following month.
Judy was an extremely intelligent, beautiful, charismatic, open-hearted, creative, out-going, artistic and fun human being, and she was a wonderful wife, loving mother and doting grandmother. She loved her dogs, all living things and all things beautiful. She was an avid collector, first of miniatures and then of rare Lenci dolls, becoming a presenter and sought-out expert around the world. She loved history and the arts and architecture, enjoying all the Pasadena area had to offer as well as in her travels abroad.
Judy was truly a force of nature and one of this life’s brightest lights.
At Judy's request, the family will hold a celebration of life party in 2020. If anyone would like to honor Judy, we'd recommend doing so with a donation to the Pasadena Humane Society.
