Funeral Details

Susan Mednick

July 28, 1940 - July 1, 2025

SERVICE INFORMATION

Date and Time

Thursday, July 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM

Service

Chicago Jewish Funerals
Buffalo Grove Chapel
195 North Buffalo Grove Road
Buffalo Grove, Illinois 60089
Get Directions

Clergy

Rabbi Barry Axler

Interment

Shalom Memorial Park
1700 West Rand Road
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004
Get Directions

Shiva

Mednick - Simmons Residence
1104 Cherry Street
Deerfield, Illinois 60015
Get Directions
847.596.1600

Thursday following the interment until 6:30PM with Minyan at 5PM
Friday: 12 Noon - 3PM with Minyan at 2:45PM
Saturday night: private family Shiva
Sunday: 1PM - 3PM, 6:30PM - 9PM with Minyan at 8PM

Shiva will continue at
The residence of Bob Mednick
1040 North Lake Shore Drive, Apt. 20B
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Get Directions
(valet parking)
Monday and Tuesday 2PM - 5PM, 7PM - 9PM with Minyan at 7:30PM

Shiva coordinators:

Luana Tazioli
lptazioli@gmail.com

Andrea Brown
abrown@jccchicago.org

Memorial Contributions

Jewish Women's Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (JWF)
30 South Wells Street
Chicago, Illinois 60606
www.juf.org/jwf
or
Chicago Jewish Day School
3730 North California Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60618
www.chicagojewishdayschool.org





OBITUARY

Susan L. Mednick
Journalist, Writer, Ray of Sunshine

Susan Lee Mednick died on July 1, 2025, in Chicago, IL. Susan (Susie) was born on Chicago's West Side on July 28,1940 to Sydell and Milton Levinson. She attended Austin High School (class of 1958) where she was senior class president. Susan started college at the University of Michigan before graduating from Northwestern (1962) with a degree in English Literature. Later, she received a Master’s in Judaica from Spertus Institute and a Master of Social Work from Loyola.

Like her mother, Susan was a gifted, independent thinker who had a lifelong love of reading. Like her father, Susan was courageous and optimistic, with a can-do spirit. As a teenager, Susan learned to fly airplanes; at 21, she became a reporter for the Chicago Tribune—one of only a handful of women reporters at the time. In the mid-1960s, Susan was head copywriter for English and Social Studies textbooks at Scott-Foresman. In the 1970s, she was a feature editor for Pioneer Press’s Highland Park News. From 1985 to 1990, she was the Public Relations Director for the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Susan was also a freelance writer and long-time contributor to JUF News.

Susan was committed to social action—serving as a board member and writer for Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry, a founding member and Chair of the Chicago Jewish Women’s Foundation, and a member of the Steering Committee of the Friends of Robert Emmet School (her grammar school) which provided school supplies and support to underserved students.

Susie married her high school sweetheart, Robert (Bob) Mednick, in October 1962. Susie and Bob were married for 62 years and were a couple for over 70. They first met at age 13 on the steps of Austin Jewish Community Center on Rosh Hashanah in 1953 and went to their first dance (“Smoke Dreams”) at age 14. Throughout their marriage, Susie and Bob loved to spend time with their extended family and many good friends. They especially loved to travel—visiting over 60 countries—aided by Susie's press credential and Bob's senior management position at Arthur Andersen Worldwide.

Along with Bob, Susan was dedicated to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. They were members of Congregation Solel in Highland Park from 1970 to 1990, and the Lake Shore Drive (“Elm Street”) Synagogue for the past 35 years. In the 1980s, Susan and Bob visited and worked to secure exit visas for Refusniks (Jewish dissidents) from the Soviet Union. The two visited Israel numerous times beginning in 1973 and lived in Jerusalem for two months a year between 1999 and 2022.

Above all, Susan loved people. She was especially fond of her paternal grandfather, Charlie Levinson, who, like Susan, was a kind soul with a sunny disposition and a beaming smile. Susan was a beloved mother, Safta (grandmother), and aunt. She cared about and was genuinely interested in everyone she knew or met—friends, strangers, people from all walks of life—asking them questions, giving them compliments, and making them feel special. She was a ray of sunshine to everyone who knew her, and to the countless others she met along the way.

Susan was preceded in death by her parents Sydell and Milton Levinson and is survived by her husband Robert; children: Michael, Julie (Russell) Mednick-Simmons, and Adam (Aphra); and grandchildren: Talia, Eli, and Daniel Simmons, and Eliza and Simon Mednick.

Service Thursday 11AM at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 195 N. Buffalo Grove Road (one block north of Lake Cook Road) Buffalo Grove. Interment Shalom. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Jewish Women's Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (JWF), 30 South Wells Street, Chicago, Illinois 60606, www.juf.org/jwf/ or Chicago Jewish Day School, 3730 North California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60618, www.chicagojewishdayschool.org. To attend the funeral livestream, please visit our website. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals – Buffalo Grove Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com


GUEST BOOK

We encourage you to share your personal condolences and stories of Susan Mednick below and we will share them with the family.
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Bob and family, my thoughts and prayers are with you upon this great loss. Please accept my condolences upon his sad occasion.

Lee Blazey
July 2, 2025
Dear susie. We live and will miss you terribly. My heart aches. Love babs and shelly

Babs Migdal
July 2, 2025
Sending all my love and deepest condolences to the entire Mednick family! My heart hurts for you all!! I'm so grateful to have known Susie for over 35 years and will miss her beautiful smile and will never forget her awesome Chicago accent!!! May her memory be a blessing! All my love, Lisa

Lisa Brodwin
July 2, 2025
Bob and family,
My deepest sympathy on the loss of a wonderful woman “Susie”
. It was indeed an honor to call her my friend.
May her memory be for a blessing.

Gloria Taussig
July 2, 2025
Our sincere condolences. It was a privilege knowing Susan. Bob and Bonny.

Bob and Bonny Israeloff
July 2, 2025
Baruch Dayan Ha’emet.
What a loss! Susan-Susie was one of the most beautiful, beloved, caring, special woman ever! It is a tremendous zchut for us to have known her for so many years, and what wonderful memories we have!
We will miss her greatly!
Sending a big hug to dear Bob, Michael, Julie, Adam and the entire family! We love you so much and will forever cherish dearest Susie.
Sending our love from Psagot, Israel
The entire Roskin-Winter family

Aviva Roskin Winter
July 2, 2025
What an incredible woman! Julie Mednick-Simmonsand Russell Simmons, I am so sorry for the tremendous loss of your beloved mother Julie! Our hearts are with you! May her memory always be for a blessing. I know her spirit and her impact lives on in you Julie, and your beautiful family. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.

Martine Gorstein
July 2, 2025
my deepest condolences to Bob and his family.. I only knew Susie for a brief time but was exposed to that winning smile that lit up the room....she will be sorely missed

marvinmy lader
July 3, 2025
ברוך דיין האמת.
We are deeply saddened to hear of your loss.
Please know that we are holding you close in our thoughts during this difficult time. On behalf of myself and my siblings, we send our heartfelt condolences to the entire family.
May Susie’s memory be a blessing, and may you find comfort in the love that surrounds you.

With sympathy,
Naomi, Yael, Tamar, Daniel and Netanel Levinson

Naomi Levinson
July 3, 2025
We are saddened for the loss of such a ray of sunshine. A woman who has done so much and given so much to her community. While we don't know her as well as we would have liked to, her memory will live on through her children, her good deeds and her smile. She will be sorely missed. May her memory be for a blessing. Esther and Ron

Esther and Ron Emmerman
July 3, 2025
Our thoughts and prayers for all who love Susan. She was such a caring and loving lady who shared hugs and smiles to all. May peace come to her and the FAMILY!

Howard and Susan Sutker
July 3, 2025
Bob and Family,
I wish to extend my deepest condolences. Susie was an amazing person and I honored to have gotten to know her in the last 21 years. I’m sorry that I am on the west coast and will not be with you at the funeral but hope to see you when I return at the end of Shiva. Sending you love and truly my heartfelt regards . I know losing Susie is a tremendous loss. May her memory always be for a blessing.

Judy Finkelstein-Taff
July 3, 2025
To Bob and family: We are sorry to hear of Susie’s passing. May her memory be for a blessing.
Barbara and Alan Levin

Barbara Levin
July 3, 2025
To the entire Mednick family. We are so very deeply sorry for your loss. Just as words cannot describe your loss, words cannot fully describe Susie either. A great, great lady in so very many ways. All that knew her, understood what a wonderful lady she was and benefited from her loving and caring. We are thankful for Susie's life and and we are thankful that we knew her. You all have our deepest condolences and sympathy.

Again, we are so very sorry for your loss.

Ed Grant

Edward Grant
July 4, 2025
Susie was open and cheerful about life. Susie was a true love. Susie's spirit will live on in my heart forever. I still have the piece of jewelry that Susie gave me many. many years ago. I wear it proudly remembering her thoughtfulness!

ANN HORSTMANN
July 4, 2025
Susan was a wonderful, generous and giving person. She will be missed, but leaves a a kind, wonderful and lasting legacy.

James Gottlieb
July 5, 2025
Jimmy and I, extend our deepest condolences to the entire family and friends for the passing of an incredible woman.
May the Lord give comfort to her family during these difficult times.
Eternal be her memory…

With sympathy and love,

Eleni 36BC
And
2119 Post Rd
Northbrook, I’ll 60062

Eleni Bousis
July 5, 2025
Suzie was a bright light in so many lives. Her kindness and warmth are memorable. She will be deeply missed by her devoted family and friends. Her spirit lives on in all the lives she touched.

With deep sadness
Barbara Levy Kipper

Barbara Kipper
July 6, 2025
Susie's energy always brought brightness to where ever she was. Always so optimistic and positive about life, with a warm smile. As her son-in-law, Russell's brother, she was always so warm and complementary and made me feel part of "her" family. Her young spirit was always entertaining as she enjoyed engaging in my hobbies of flying my drone, are 3-D photography with google cardboard glasses. It was a blessing to spend two trips in Israel with her, one with both my kids Bar / Bat Mitzvahs and Daniels Bar Mitzvah. Great memories.

So sorry I missed the funeral, as I was in Mexico when she pases.

My condolences to all with her loss, but her memories are truly a blessing and she will be loved forever.

Jerry Simmons.
July 7th, 2025

Jerry Simmons
July 7, 2025