Lucy Baum Bercovici

Lucy Baum Bercovici, beloved by all and the life of every party, passed away on May 14, 2024, surrounded by family at her home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Lucy was born in post-war Warsaw, Poland in 1952 to Anna and Jacob Baum. She formed a close bond early on with her older brother, Jerry Baum, who was always one of her closest and dearest friends.

Lucy and her family immigrated by boat to Canada in 1957 with the clothes on their backs, and made a new life in Montreal, surrounded by bevies of relatives – both blood and adopted. Lucy spent summers at Camp B’nai Brith, which she fondly remembered to the end. She was a natural athlete and artist. From early days at school, Lucy excelled at gymnastics and ballet. After elementary school, Lucy was offered a scholarship by the National Ballet of Canada, which would mean a boarding school in Toronto. But her parents said no, and so ended Lucy’s dancing career, but never her love of ballet. She never lost her dancer’s balance and grace.

Throughout high school Lucy was surrounded by close friends, some of whom were in touch with her to the end of her life.

Lucy attended McGill university in Montreal, where she also met Shraga. Lucy enrolled in physical education, as a natural extension of her love of dancing. She would often regale her family with stories from her studies. For example, one time, to illustrate the importance of kinetics, Lucy dropped her jacket on the floor and asked everyone to describe their movements to pick it up – turns out, doing so is a lot harder than it sounds.

Lucy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and then went on to Western University in London (Ontario) where she obtained a Master of Library Science. As a librarian, Lucy found herself at the cutting edge of digitization, working with UTLAS, the University of Toronto Library Automation System, one of the earliest computer systems used in the public sector. She jokingly recalled serving as tech support in the nascent ages of the computer, instructing bewildered clients to remember to plug in the machine.

Lucy married Shraga in 1976, moved to Toronto, and gave birth to daughter Michelle and then to son Joshua. In 1993, Lucy and her family moved to Raleigh, as Shraga was offered a transfer from Toronto. Lucy plunged into her new life in North Carolina, exploring a new climate, new surroundings, new friends, and new habits.

Two of Lucy’s passions were bringing people together and feeding them. Lucy loved cooking – even when that meant two meals at every dinner after her children became vegetarian – and entertaining groups of friends on the weekends. As much as Lucy loved cooking, she loved baking even more. She mastered her famous banana cake and scoured the Internet to develop an arsenal of delicious cookie recipes that she loved to share.

Lucy surrounded herself with extended family and a multitude of friends. Her life was full, fun, and joyful. Lucy and Shraga were a lifelong team. Lucy helped manage the businesses that Shraga created, ultimately mirroring her brother Jerry’s accounting career. Lucy dearly loved her beautiful home, which she impeccably furnished and maintained, filled with art from her mother’s collection and Michelle’s own impressive creations. Lucy welcomed her first grandchild, Shael in 2023, who filled the last year of her life with joy, wonder and many, many baby photos.

Throughout her life, Lucy’s love for others was boundless, and her kitchen always open. She started every day the same way, with a cup of coffee (the first of many), and preferred to close out each day with ice cream, lovingly shared with her dog (and honorary 3rd child), Daisy.

During her eight-month battle with cancer, she braved the unknown with strength and humor, her devoted son Josh by her side and loving husband Shraga supporting them both. She was able to reconnect with her friends, old and new, who brought her much joy – and soup.

Some of you may be familiar with the prompt: “explain how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” - and some philosophers would say that step one must be: “first, you create the universe.” Much in the same way, Lucy helped to create a beautiful life for her family to inhabit. Now, we must continue to build the world she sculpted, one step at a time, always with the knowledge that every moment we have began with her.

Lucy’s spirit, vibrancy, curiosity, and bright smile will live on with her family and friends forever.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.