Ellen Marla ( Pachefsky) Rubin

June 2, 1943 - October 8, 2020

Ellen Rubin of Oakland, California, died peacefully on October 8, 2020. Ellen was born June 2,1943 to Eileen ( Waisman) Pachefsky and Samuel Pachefsky in Milwaukee, WI, where she was raised, graduated from Washington High School and then from the University of Wisconsin– Milwaukee with a degree in Education, specializing in special education for hearing impaired children. After a year she realized that her lack of fluency in American Sign Language was a significant barrier to her efforts to communicate with her classes, so she moved to teach regular classes in elementary grades. She then returned to UWM to earn her Masters in Library Science, and dedicated her career to helping foster a love of reading in young children.

Ellen married Allen Rubin in 1967. Their first date had been their high school senior prom, which led to 53 years of devoted marriage. In 1978 Ellen and Allen followed Allen’s career to the New York area, where they lived first in Englewood, then Ridgewood, NJ. Their daughter Abby was born in Englewood, then son Steven ( adopted from Korea) joined the family several years later. When Steven was in elementary school, Ellen resumed her career as a children’s librarian first at the Bede School, then the Elisabeth Morrow School, both in Englewood, NJ. Her former students fondly recall the cocoa parties she gave in the library and the annual book fairs she helped to organize.

Ellen is survived by her husband, Allen, children Abby ( Ross Davisson- San Francisco) and Steven ( Tucson, AZ), her beloved grandsons Sam and Max Davisson, her sister Sandy Ansfield ( Oshkosh, WI) and niece and nephew Judy Hebert and Joel Ansfield, both of Oshkosh, and many cousins scattered across the country.

A service will be conducted on the internet on Monday, October 12, at

1: 00 PM PDT. with a private internment at Home of Eternity Cemetery in Oakland, CA. For more information, Sinai Chapel in Lafayette, CA, sinaichapel.org. In lieu of flowers, donations in Ellen’s memory may be made to the Oakland Literacy Coalition at oaklandliteracycoalition.org