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Susan Zalkin

Susan Zalkin

Susan Zalkin

Susan Flaxer Zalkin, a cherished member of Denver’s Jewish community, passed away July 25, 2018, after a valiant battle with lung cancer, which was diagnosed in April. Cantor Joel Lichterman and Rabbis Yaakov Chaitovsky and Joseph Friedman officiated at the July 27 service at BMH-BJ. Interment followed at Mt. Nebo Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made the arrangements.

“I met Susan on a Monday night and proposed to her on Thursday,” husband Mark Zalkin told the IJN. “She was 23 and I was 24. I knew Susan was beautiful on the outside, but after 10 minutes over a cup of coffee I realized she was 10 times more beautiful on the inside.”

Mr. Zalkin sang a song from their wedding at the service, and son Dr. David Zalkin eulogized his mother.

“Susan was eclectic, intelligent, sincere, inquisitive and a wonderful listener,” Mr. Zalkin said. “But her main love was Judaism, studying Torah and practicing Jewish values.

“Although her children were the light of her life, her grandchildren took center stage. They were the best medicine.”

Mr. Zalkin said that a stream of friends and family visited his wife during her final two-week stay in the hospital, “but Susan was worried about a patient down the hall who never had visitors.

“Susan asked the doctor, ‘Can we get my bed out of the room so I can go down the hallway and see him?’

“Susan never felt sorry for herself. That was her legacy.”

Susan Flaxer was born June 12, 1950, to the late Dr. Carl and Evelyn Flaxer. She attended college in Boston and earned her BA at Metro State.

In 1973 she met Mark Zalkin, who proposed four days later. They married that same year.

Mrs. Zalkin, who chose to be a stay-at-home mother and raise her children, later earned an MA in social work with a concentration in gerontology at DU and became director of social services for various institutions.

She cultivated relationships with her extended family across the country as well as friends spanning the globe.

Mrs. Zalkin loved nature, especially Colorado summers; art, music traveling, reading and shopping. She also appreciated humor.

“I’m so grateful for the 45 years we had together,” Mr. Zalkin said. “I wouldn’t trade a second.”

Susan Zalkin is survived by her husband Mark Zalkin; children Sara, David (Jessica) and Mara; grandchildren Shmuel “Smulie” Yekusiel, Emunah Menucha, Avraham “Avi” Yehuda and Esther Shana “Esti”; brother Michael (Sharlyn) Flaxer and sister Lisa Flaxer (Jacques) Ruda; and a network of cousins, nieces and nephews.

Contributions may be made to BMH-BJ’s Chesed Fund, LEA Hadassah or the Lung Cancer Colorado Fund.

Copyright © 2018 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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