Piri Davis

Piri Davis, 88, of West Orange died Dec. 27, 2017. Born in what was then the Slovakia region of Czechoslovakia, she was only 15 years old when she was  seized by the Nazis and interned in a succession of ghettos and concentration camps. She survived the death camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Bergen-Belsen, suffering the loss of her entire immediate family and being liberated, alone, at the age of 16.

Mrs. Davis married her husband, Nate, in Prague in 1948 and, with him, lived in Czechoslovakia, Israel, Canada, Ohio, New Jersey (twice), and Texas. 

After her liberation she worked as a factory laborer, physician’s assistant, and finally, in partnership with her husband, in a series of delicatessen/restaurants that they ran and built together in Ohio and New Jersey. She and her husband retired in 1987 to join their children and grandchildren in Dallas, before returning to New Jersey with the entire family in 1992.

Together with her husband, she was a founding member of Congregation Israel in Springfield and a member and contributor to Congregation Ahavath Zion in Maplewood.

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Predeceased by her husband of 64 years, she is survived by three sons, Gene, Jeffrey, and Ronnie; daughters-in-law Stacey, Babette, and Linda; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. 

Services were held Dec. 29 with arrangements by Bernheim-Apter-Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Chapel, Livingston. Memorial contributions may be made to the Café Europa Program of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest NJ or Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.