Barbara Tobor Margolis, 76, a founding member of Congregation Har HaShem in Boulder, passed away Nov. 22, 2015. The Nov. 25 graveside service was held at the top of Green Mountain Cemetery, which made the arrangements.
Mrs. Margolis was born in 1939 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago to Ruth (Gordon) and Saul Tobor. She grew up with her younger sister Joyce and many relatives in the Chicago area.
She graduated from Hyde Park High School in Chicago at age 15 and earned a BS in psychology from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 1960.
While at college, she met her future husband Donald William Margolis. They married in 1960 at Chicagos Drake Hotel. They resided briefly in Champaign, Chicago, Adelphi, Md., and Wappingers Falls in Poughkeepsie, NY, before moving to Boulder in 1966.
The couple recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Margolis provided administrative support for the YMCA in Boulder in the early 1970s. In 1979, she started working in the Student Counseling Center at CU and eventually became director of new student orientation.
Under her leadership and in partnership with her colleagues, Mrs. Margolis guided hundreds of thousands of students through the administrative maze and initial adjustment period on campus. Many students called her their CU Mom.
She was an active leader in the National Orientation Directors Assn. (NODA) for several years and chaired the NODA conference in 1997 in Denver.
Mrs. Margolis retired in 1999 after serving CU students and their parents for 20 years. She established many life-long friendships in her time at the university.
A founding member of Boulder’s Hadassah chapter, Mrs. Margolis will be best remembered for her legacy at Har HaShem.
Along with her husband Don, she literally helped build the synagogue, from the groundbreaking to laying bricks in the original building.
Mrs. Margolis worked tirelessly on many fundraising and community committees over her five decades-long affiliation with Har HaShem.
She was particularly proud of establishing the gift shop, which now bears her name.
Mrs. Margolis established and chaired the Har HaShem Sisterhood in 1967, and reinvigorated and chaired the Women of Har HaShem, an inclusive, community-minded organization, in 1998.
She most recently served as a member of the rabbinic search and installation committees that brought Rabbi Fred Greene to the congregation in 2015.
Mrs. Margolis is survived by her husband Donald Margolis of Boulder: sons Scott (Michele) Margolis of Coppell, Texas, Jeffrey (Deborah) Margolis of Newport Beach, Calif., and Gary Margolis of Boulder; grandchildren Michael, Alexandria, Allegra, Seth and Abrianna Margolis; and her sister Joyce Tobor (Steve) Hamel of Highland Park, Ill.
Memorial donations may be sent to Congregation Har HaShem, 3950 Baseline Rd., Boulder, CO 80303 or the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America, http://online.ccfa.org/goto/InMemoryofBarbaraMargolis.
Copyright © 2015 by the Intermountain Jewish News
