Lenora Garfinkel

Lenora Garfinkel (12 Apr 1930 – 29 Apr 2020) was an American architect, specializing in the design and construction of Jewish ritual buildings.

Childhood and education

Born Lenora Fay Josephy on April 12, 1930,[1] in the Bronx, Garfinkel attended the High School of Music & Art in Manhattan and was among the first women to enroll in Cooper Union’s architecture program in the class of 1950.[2][3][4] She took the Cooper Union entrance exam on a Sunday instead of Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath; she tested under a pseudonym to increase her chances of admission.[5]

Career

Garfinkel maintained an architecture office in Monsey, New York, for more than 50 years. The business was ranked in the top 8% of New York licensed contractors.[6]

She designed the Atrium, an Ultra-Orthodox events space in Monsey, the Viznitz Synagogue,[7] and the Masores Bais Yaakov school in Brooklyn.[5] She became an authority on the religious regulations and design specifications for Jewish ritual institutions, including mikvahs and synagogues.

Personal

She was married to Sam Garfinkel, a pharmacist, in 1958. The couple had five children, 20 grandchildren, and over 50 great-grandchildren. Two of her sons are also architects.

Garfinkel died in April 2020, from COVID-19 in The Bronx during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Her son and grandson died from the virus within a week of her death.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965". Ancestry.com. Retrieved April 8, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ Leland, John (July 3, 2020). "Lenora Fay Garfinkel, 90, Architect for Orthodox Jewish Communities, Dies". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ "Lenora Garfinkel, Monsey architect who designed Atrium, Viznitz synagogue, dies of COVID-19". www.msn.com. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Class Notes - Architecture". www.support.cooper.edu. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Leland, John (July 3, 2020). "Lenora Fay Garfinkel, 90, Architect for Orthodox Jewish Communities, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Garfinkel Architects". www.buildzoom.com. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  7. ↑ Levine, Sara (May 22, 2020). "Trailblazing Female Architect Succumbs To Covid-19 & Other Orthodox Jews in the News". Jew in the City. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Lenora Garfinkel, 89, noted Orthodox architect who lost a son and grandson to COVID-19". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
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