The Life of Alice Wolff Ozaroff
ALICE WOLFF OZAROFF, 89, passed away late Monday evening in Bala Cynwyd, PA. Alice was born on January 17, 1928, in the Bronx. A child of the Depression, she liked to tell people how many different places her family had lived in during her childhood—but other than a brief stint in Waterbury, CT, she spent her youth in New York City. Alice graduated from Evander Childs High School in the Bronx at the age of 16. She was valedictorian, class “historian,” yearbook editor, features editor of the school newspaper, and according to her classmate Phil Dilloway, “the heart throb of many of the guys in our class.” Alice then attended Bryn Mawr College, majoring in philosophy and graduating cum laude in 1948. At college she began to think of herself as a writer, particularly after she won the Mademoiselle magazine Guest Editor college competition and after her professor told her that her three-act play (written in an all-nighter) was “better than anything currently on Broadway.”
After college Alice worked for her beloved Aunt Claire (Wolff), who owned a PR agency in New York and was an influential role model. During the 1950s and early 60s, Alice worked as a fashion editor for the Butterick and Popular Club Plan catalogs. Returning to work after the birth of her second daughter, she began her long career as a copywriter—and eventually, copy chief—at Revlon. During the late 1970s and early 80s, Alice was vice-president of Epstein, Raboy, a small ad agency whose clients included major beauty, fashion, and liquor companies. (One of her big coups was coming up with the slogan “The Impossible Cream” for Baileys Irish Cream.) Alice’s next career move was to start her own business, Creative Beyond Words, a boutique agency specializing in spa launches, new companies and brands, and naming. In a recent email, her former colleague and friend Sheryl Reinlieb Lawrence described Alice like this: “She was the whole package—sharp, smart, no bullshit, able to handle any man in a business situation without blinking, and she looked fabulous in a skirt while telling someone off. She was generous with her head and her heart.”
Alice wanted a family as well as a career—not an easy combination for women of her generation. She married Richard Ozaroff in 1953, and they lived in Forest Hills, Queens, for the first few years of their marriage. Their daughter Claudia was born in 1955, and the family bought a house in White Plains, NY, a few weeks before Pam was born in 1958. Alice was the only mother in the neighborhood who worked outside the home, and she often faced intense disapproval from the other moms. Seeking better schools and a leafier suburb, the family moved to Chappaqua, NY, in the summer of 1966. Alice loved everything about Chappaqua: her house (which she thought looked like Tara from Gone with the Wind) and acre of “country” land, Birchwood Swim and Tennis Club (in walking distance through the woods behind the house), the vibrant Temple Beth El community (with its Louis Kahn synagogue and brilliant rabbi), the charming village (with its quirky little shops and quaint train station), and of course the legendary schools. The marriage, however, ended in 1975. Alice kept her beloved house but also rented a studio apartment in the city, eventually buying it when the building went co-op and then subletting it, furnished and decorated in her trademark style.
Alice was an active member of the Chappaqua, Temple Beth El, Birchwood, and Bryn Mawr alumnae communities, with a large circle of devoted friends. She played tennis and paddle tennis with a regular group of “tennis ladies,” and swam “laps” in the pool (always wearing a bathing cap and never putting her face in the water). Alice was a board member of the Bryn Mawr Club of Westchester and ran a Sundays Discussion Group for her temple’s Empty Nesters group. In March 2016, after living in Chappaqua for almost 50 years, she moved to the Hearth at Drexel, an assisted living community in Bala Cywyd, PA, near a daughter and son-in-law.
Alice was a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and cousin. She adored—and was adored by—her large extended family and tried to keep in touch with everyone, in every generation. She is survived by her daughters Claudia Crowley and Pamela Ozaroff; her grandchildren Daniel Crowley, Matthew Crowley, Anna Wehrwein, and Ethan Wehrwein; her brother, Marvin Wolff; her sons-in-law Leo Crowley and Peter Wehrwein; and her granddaughter-in-law, Ellie Crowley. A graveside service will be held on Sunday, October 15, at 11:00 am at Beth David Cemetery, 300 Elmont Rd, Elmont, NY 11003. Mourners will assemble at the entrance at about 10:45 and then drive to the grave. The family will observe shiva after the burial from 3 to 6 pm. Please contact the family for information.
After college Alice worked for her beloved Aunt Claire (Wolff), who owned a PR agency in New York and was an influential role model. During the 1950s and early 60s, Alice worked as a fashion editor for the Butterick and Popular Club Plan catalogs. Returning to work after the birth of her second daughter, she began her long career as a copywriter—and eventually, copy chief—at Revlon. During the late 1970s and early 80s, Alice was vice-president of Epstein, Raboy, a small ad agency whose clients included major beauty, fashion, and liquor companies. (One of her big coups was coming up with the slogan “The Impossible Cream” for Baileys Irish Cream.) Alice’s next career move was to start her own business, Creative Beyond Words, a boutique agency specializing in spa launches, new companies and brands, and naming. In a recent email, her former colleague and friend Sheryl Reinlieb Lawrence described Alice like this: “She was the whole package—sharp, smart, no bullshit, able to handle any man in a business situation without blinking, and she looked fabulous in a skirt while telling someone off. She was generous with her head and her heart.”
Alice wanted a family as well as a career—not an easy combination for women of her generation. She married Richard Ozaroff in 1953, and they lived in Forest Hills, Queens, for the first few years of their marriage. Their daughter Claudia was born in 1955, and the family bought a house in White Plains, NY, a few weeks before Pam was born in 1958. Alice was the only mother in the neighborhood who worked outside the home, and she often faced intense disapproval from the other moms. Seeking better schools and a leafier suburb, the family moved to Chappaqua, NY, in the summer of 1966. Alice loved everything about Chappaqua: her house (which she thought looked like Tara from Gone with the Wind) and acre of “country” land, Birchwood Swim and Tennis Club (in walking distance through the woods behind the house), the vibrant Temple Beth El community (with its Louis Kahn synagogue and brilliant rabbi), the charming village (with its quirky little shops and quaint train station), and of course the legendary schools. The marriage, however, ended in 1975. Alice kept her beloved house but also rented a studio apartment in the city, eventually buying it when the building went co-op and then subletting it, furnished and decorated in her trademark style.
Alice was an active member of the Chappaqua, Temple Beth El, Birchwood, and Bryn Mawr alumnae communities, with a large circle of devoted friends. She played tennis and paddle tennis with a regular group of “tennis ladies,” and swam “laps” in the pool (always wearing a bathing cap and never putting her face in the water). Alice was a board member of the Bryn Mawr Club of Westchester and ran a Sundays Discussion Group for her temple’s Empty Nesters group. In March 2016, after living in Chappaqua for almost 50 years, she moved to the Hearth at Drexel, an assisted living community in Bala Cywyd, PA, near a daughter and son-in-law.
Alice was a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and cousin. She adored—and was adored by—her large extended family and tried to keep in touch with everyone, in every generation. She is survived by her daughters Claudia Crowley and Pamela Ozaroff; her grandchildren Daniel Crowley, Matthew Crowley, Anna Wehrwein, and Ethan Wehrwein; her brother, Marvin Wolff; her sons-in-law Leo Crowley and Peter Wehrwein; and her granddaughter-in-law, Ellie Crowley. A graveside service will be held on Sunday, October 15, at 11:00 am at Beth David Cemetery, 300 Elmont Rd, Elmont, NY 11003. Mourners will assemble at the entrance at about 10:45 and then drive to the grave. The family will observe shiva after the burial from 3 to 6 pm. Please contact the family for information.
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2017.10.19
Evander Childs High School
Alice was active in student activities in high school. She held elective office as class of June 1944 Historian as shown here in the photograph from the Oriole, the school's yearbook which she edited. She was pretty and smart, engaging and strong willed. Her scholarship earned her the distinction of Valedictorian at Commencement. She honed her journalism skills as features editor of the school newspaper a harbinger of things to come. Whatever the school activity, Alice was a valued contributor. She knew early on that she was going to go to Bryn Mawr.
Many years later we renewed our acquaintance thru Classmates.com. We met for dinner, talked about our children, how Evander Childs had changed since graduation, politics and investment opportunities. We kept in touch thru social media.
I am saddened by her loss.
Phil Dilloway
Posted by Phylipp D
on 10/19/2017