Charlotte Siegel

Charlotte Siegel died peacefully at age 100 at the Vi senior residence in Palo Alto. Born and bred in Boston, and a licensed clinical social worker who practiced for more than 60 years, Charlotte was the epitome of a hardy New Englander. She went to Smith College and attended the University of Chicago’s School of Social Work Administration, where she met her husband, Bernard Siegel, a graduate student in anthropology and a gifted pianist who shared Charlotte’s life-long loves of travel and music. They moved to California where Bernard became a professor in Stanford’s new department of anthropology. As they raised two children, Eve and Paul, Charlotte completed her MSW degree at UC Berkeley.

As an anthropologist’s family, the Siegels lived for significant periods in other societies, including Brazil, Portugal, Japan, and Italy. Charlotte developed her career as a clinical social worker at the Palo Alto Family Service Association, and Stanford’s Cowell Student Health Center and International Center. She later began a private therapy practice that she retired from after her 95th birthday. She integrated her learning from the crosscultural experiences she’d lived into her professional life, supporting people from multicultural backgrounds who were coping with life challenges outside their native cultures.

Charlotte moved to the Vi Residence in Palo Alto after Bernard’s death, and became an active member of its community, co-founding the popular “Transitions” group. This innovative group helped residents find new connections with others, and shared mutual challenges as they began to understand better the complexities of aging, working together to build a sense of community, and creating mutual support for each other.

A woman of titanic energies throughout her long life, Charlotte saw herself as “this dreamer person, this social worker,” who was determined to make a difference -- a goal she certainly achieved. Charlotte believed that life is an adventure, and was an inspiring example of this to people she met anywhere. She is already deeply missed by family, friends and colleagues of all ages around the world-- and survived by her daughter, Eve, and son, Paul.

Charitable donations may be made to jfcs.org/jewishchaplaincy (Stanford Medicine) or an environmental organization of your choice.