Extraordinary LIVES
SUSAN’S grandparents had to flee the Russian anti-Semitic pogroms in 1904. Her father David was born during the sea crossing to Britain. They settled in London and when David grew up he became a cabinet maker and opened a shop in Walthamstow, East London. Susan was born there, the youngest of three children. The family moved to Finchley, North London, where Susan went to school and took a secretarial course. But she wasn’t a secretary for long. She got the travel bug and took a job with Thomson Holidays, based in the Canaries. In 1971, she joined the new London tour operator Travelscene and went to Amsterdam to run their Dutch office. She was there for 15 years. I met her brother Michael through a friend. One day in 1986 he remarked: ‘My sister has just returned to London. Would you like to meet her?’
I said yes, so a blind date was arranged. We went to a wine bar in Finchley and it was love at first sight. Within six weeks, we were living together in Notting Hill Gate. Two years later, we married. We were blessed with the birth of Jacqueline the following year. Susan managed to combine her
demanding job with bringing up our daughter. Four days a week, she travelled around Europe negotiating contracts with hotels, putting together holiday package deals and brochures. She loved her job and was sad when the firm closed down in 2004.
But before long she’d started her own marketing company and carved out a new career. She was proud of being Jewish and always kept the traditions at home, especially the Friday night Shabbat dinners with the candle lighting. Despite her busy life, she was a volunteer for the Belsize Square Synagogue, comforting isolated members and anyone who needed someone to talk to. She helped answer the phones for MiYaD, a Jewish crisis helpline similar to the Samaritans, and gave generously to charities. She always had time for people, was a great listener with a huge heart and put others before herself. Once you became Susan’s friend, you were a friend for life. She was thrilled to welcome our grandson Asher in 2020. Her 70th birthday party, planned for 2021, had to be postponed because of Covid, but we finally celebrated it with friends and family last May, having a wonderful dinner in a restaurant. She was looking forward to the birth of our second grandchild in October, but in July, the cancer she had fought and defeated years ago came back. A month later she was gone. Susan was a lovely, kind, thoughtful person and a wonderful wife to me.
■ SUSAN ELIZABETH HILARY KARMEL, born February 21, 1951; died August 16, 2022, aged 71.