Leesa Freedman Goren (1950-2020) grew up in Granite City, Illinois and met her husband to be while an undergraduate student at Harvard University. After 10 years in St. Louis, Missouri, where she earned her MBA degree at Washington University and worked as an accountant, she and her husband and family made Aliya in 1985.
She almost singlehandedly got her children settled in a new country and its schools and, after her fifth child was born, she began working at an international investment research company, where she stayed for over 20 years.
All this time, Leesa was active in her local kehilla in Petach Tikva and did volunteer work for Emunah Organization. She came to IGRA as a founding member in 2012 and became an active member and was always willing to help. She served several years on the board, as Treasurer, and on the Audit Committee. She found the opportunity to research her families’ roots in both Europe, Shanghai, the U.S. and Israel and enjoyed delving into her past.
Leesa was an avid reader and puzzle solver.
She is sorely missed by her husband, Menachem Goren, her mother, Julie Freedman, her five children and nine grandchildren. Leesa Freedman Goren died after a protracted battle with breast cancer and leukemia on October 12, 2020.
