Fay Botnick laid to rest in private service

FAY WALDOFF BOTNICK, a former university administrator, passed away peacefully on January 22, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio, at the age of 98. 

FAY WALDOFF BOTNICK

A native of Hattiesburg, MS, she graduated high school and attended Louisiana State University. It was there that she met her future husband and the love of her life Adolph Ira (“B”) Botnick.  They were married in 1947 and, following graduation in 1949, they moved to Hattiesburg where “B” began working at his father-in-law’s department store and raising their family.

In the early years of their marriage, when she was involved with B’nai Brith, there was an opening for a position at the Anti-Defmation League (ADL), and she encouraged “B” to apply, but he “B” hesitated out of concern for his family’s safety. She told him there are bigger issues on a global scale and that we have a responsibility to nurture a world where diversity is celebrated and every person is treated with dignity and respect. With her encouragement, he took the ADL position, and they worked together to end discrimination and create a more inclusive and compassionate society.

It was in New Orleans in the 1960s that she began her career in administration, first at Sophie Newcomb as assistant to the Dean of Students and later as assistant to the Provost at Tulane University.  And it was in that academic environment where she found a second home that engaged her lifelong interests in music, literature, and psychology.  She was an accomplished flutist, having played in bands in high school and college, and throughout her life she loved concerts and was an avid reader.  She also loved to travel, often going with “B” or one of her children to Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Russia, and South America.

While the 1960s and 1970s marked great success for the Botnicks they were also the years when the civil rights movement was being opposed throughout the South, often with violence. As regional director of the ADL, “B” often traveled into Mississippi to meet with city and state officials, as well as members of Jewish congregations, to discuss the ongoing violence and ways of dealing with it.  They had to live with repeated threats, including a direct threat from Byron de la Beckwith, who murdered Medgar Evers in 1963. 

Botnick credited her long life to the love and devotion of family, oysters, and lemon drop martinis.

She was preceded in death by her infant daughter Sheryl in 1949 and her husband in 1995.  She is survived by her son Michael Botnick (Jill), her daughters Wendeline Botnick and Lori Botnick Fireman (Ted), her brother Leon Waldoff (Alice), nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial  donations are suggested to the ADL, the New Orleans Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, Jewish Children’s Regional Service or the Parkinson’s Foundation.

A graveside service was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 28, 2025.