Funeral Details

Geraldine “Gerry” Macsai was born on October 28, 1928, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Rose Michaels Marcus and Sam Marcus. She grew up alongside her beloved sister, Dorothy Gans, who remained her closest confidante and co-conspirator in life. Gerry and Dorothy raised their families near one another on Chicago's south side, and their children grew up more like siblings than cousins, sharing weekends, holidays, and countless loud meals around crowded tables.

Gerry attended South Shore High School and went on to major in mathematics at the University of Chicago. Numbers made sense to her. So did people. Throughout her life she was a mentor, a counselor and an advisor to students, relatives, friends and family.

While in college, she went on a blind date and met a young John Macsai who was in a full body cast following a recent car accident. She was either charmed by his personality, his Hungarian accent, or the fact that he took her to hear Eleanor Roosevelt speak. They married in 1950 and remained happily and steadfastly married for 67 years, despite his famous snoring.

They raised four children — Pam (Agass) Baumgartner, Aaron (Francis Kite) Macsai, Marian (Jack Kaplan) Macsai, and Gwen (Paul Goren) Macsai. Later they got to slobber over 10 grandchildren and 7.5 great grandchildren.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Gerry was a member of the South Shore Open House Committee and the League of Women Voters, working for progressive candidates, preserving fair housing and fighting redlining. She believed in fairness, equity, and doing the work that needed to be done. Sitting on the sidelines was never really her style.

Gerry began her career teaching first grade before moving on to teach mathematics at South Shore High School. She earned her master’s degree in Mathematics Education in 1967 at the University of Chicago and brought both high standards and deep care to her classrooms.

She later taught junior high at Central School in Glencoe after moving the family to Evanston in 1972. Her connection to many of her students was so strong, they stayed in touch for decades. From 1978 to 1984, she served as an elected member of the Evanston Township High School District 202 School Board and stayed active in the Evanston community, serving on the public art committee for years and generally giving politicians a hard time.

Her career continued when she turned her sharp editorial eye to math textbooks at McDougal Littell and Scott Foresman, shaping how countless students learned to understand the world through numbers.

In retirement, Gerry’s creativity flourished. In addition to her prolific knitting, she became a prolific quilter and fiber artist. Her quilts were intricate, vibrant, and made with the same care she gave to everything else in her life. She was also an avid traveler, a fair-weather baseball fan and a giver of epic proportions.

Her legacy lives on in the generations she raised, the students she taught, the communities she strengthened, and the warmth she spread to everyone she loved. And that was a lot of people.

A memorial service in Gerry’s honor will be held on Thursday, March 5 at 2pm at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd in Skokie (at Niles Center Road). There will be a shiva following the memorial service until 9pm in the community room at 1501 Hinman in Evanston. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Evanston Scholars, www.evanstonscholars.org or Books and Breakfast, www.booksbreakfast.org. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals-Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com