Sylvia R. Stern papers, approximately 1908-2013

Sylvia R. Stern was born on March 14, 1934 in Seattle, Washington to Bessie Esther Rose Sidell and Morris Sidell. Her mother emigrated to Canada from Merthr Tidfyl, Wales and eventually settled in Seattle, Washington and her father was born in Grodna, Gaberny on the border of Poland and Russia and emigrated to the Seattle area with his family.

Sylvia attended the University of Washington for her freshman year and the University of Southern California at Los Angeles and University of California, Los Angeles before moving back to Seattle to complete her Bachelor of Arts in Education at the University of Washington in 1955. Later that year she married Edward A. Stern, who had received his PhD in Physics from the California Institute of Technology. They lived in Los Angeles and Maryland before returning to Seattle where her husband was made a full professor of physics at the University of Washington.

Sylvia was very active in the Hadassah organization, where she was president of the North End group. She was also president of the Israel Investment Club and served on the boards of Congregation Beth Shalom, the Jewish Family and Child Service, and Beth Shalom Sisterhood. Sylvia was a real estate agent for many years, and had three daughters: Hilary, Miri, and Shari.