Ellen Sorah Horwitz Harris

December 3, 1922 - September 28, 2020

Ellen Sorah Horwitz Harris born December 3, 1922 ( Minneapolis, MN) to Bertha and Aaron Horwitz, Eastern European immigrants, passed away on September 28, 2020 in her home of 70 years in San Francisco’s Noe Valley.

Listening to her own drummer and not overly concerned with convention, Ellen lived an adventurous and full life. She took a high school journalism class from Ellis Harris and it seems it was love at first sight. After graduating from the University of Minnesota she received her MSW from Smith College. In 1944 Ellen accepted a job in Hawaii

( her choices were Hawaii or Alaska and having been raised in Duluth, Hawaii sounded good). During WWll, travel out of San Francisco required a convoy, and while waiting for her ship to depart, she and Ellis, who was stationed in Dallas with the army air corps decided to get married over the phone. The presiding rabbi was a “little deaf” and the phone connection was weak, but the marriage was declared legal and they remained partners in love for 70 plus years. Upon Ellis’s discharge, he joined her and a second wedding in Hawaii followed for friends and family. Ellen’s first job was at Children and Families Service in Honolulu. Their years in Hawaii were magical, full of remote hiking adventures, close friends and causes including support of the sugar cane workers and the creation of the state of Israel. In 1950 they moved to San Francisco where they raised three children. Not wanting the confines of a single job Ellen had many: private practice therapist, school counselor, social worker at Family Service and Mt Zion Hospital, and teacher. Ellen kept a psychotherapy practice well into her 90’ s. She championed civil rights, social justice, world peace, protecting the environment, and improving education, both on local and international levels and often incorporating these causes into her work. The Harris house was open to all, hosting a wide variety of people and events. In the City Ellen and Ellis enjoyed art, ballet, theater and playing tennis, and at their beloved second home on the Russian River there was more tennis and the peace and beauty of nature. As a mother she provided both a rich environment to play and learn and freedom to explore. As a grandmother she delighted in her four granddaughters, and took pleasure in watching many soccer, basketball and ballet performances over the years and took great pride as a fourth generation of women obtained their college degrees. Ellen was proud of her mother Bertha who was the first in her family to graduate from college.

Always fully engaged, Ellen’s intellect and passion for life kept her involved in many activities and projects. She was a constant reader.

She loved her plants, and nurtured multiple gardens. She and Ellis traveled the world, she taking movies and he editing and narrating them to share with friends and family.

She is survived by her three children, Michael Harris ( Becca) daughter Zoe, Deborah Harris ( Don) daughter Jennifer and Peter Harris ( Sheri), Erin and Toby, and many, many books and plants.

Thank you to her loving caregivers, David Shaul Van Essen, Monica Lemus, and Consuelo Ponce de Leon. If you are so moved, please make a donation to a cause of your choice or just take a moment to appreciate nature, art and life.