Martha Davida Pomeranz Sachs

Martha died peacefully on April 7, 2022 in Hendersonville, North Carolina, six days short of her 95th birthday, while under the compassionate care of the Carolina Village Medical Center and Four Seasons Hospice. She is survived and will be dearly missed by her three daughters Susan, Linda and Nancy and her husband Kevin, grandson Daniel and his wife Bridget, and great granddaughters Emory and Avery.

Martha was born in the Bronx on April 13, 1927 to Solomon and Bertha Pomeranz. She was an only child. Martha was devastated by the death of her father, Sol, when she was eleven years old.

Martha got her undergraduate degree in sociology from Brooklyn College, where she met her husband, Howard Sachs, a World War II veteran. They married in 1948 and raised their daughters in the Bronx, New York, Wykoff, NJ, Chagrin Falls, Ohio and Montclair, New Jersey.

Martha and Howard were lifelong progressive activists. They were early activists for civil rights and nuclear disarmament and against the Vietnam War.

While raising her family, Martha earned a master’s degree in Sociology and completed her PhD coursework. An unexpected divorce sent her into the labor market, and she became the Director of Adult Learning at Ramapo State College where she created and helmed a groundbreaking program that gave adults college credits for prior learning and allowed them to earn degrees by attending classes in the evening and on Saturdays.

During this time, Martha began a spiritual journey, studying healing and therapeutic touch with a Native American teacher OhShinnah Fast Wolf and she eventually opened her own private practice in Therapeutic Touch. She also completed a two-year program at the New Seminary in New York City and was ordained as an Interfaith Minister at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Martha retired to Hendersonville, North Carolina in 1997. She continued her love of activism and advocacy by getting involved with the local chapters of AARP, where she served as its Legislative Chairperson and the League of Women Voters as its Social Policy Chair.

As she grew older Martha’s became increasingly concerned about how the elderly in our society are treated. She was the longest serving member of the Henderson County Chapter of the Office of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman. She was an active member of the Henderson County Healthy Aging Coalition, which published a plan in 2006 for Successful Aging in Henderson County.

Martha loved being active. She did yoga every morning and went ballroom dancing every week well into her late eighties. A graceful and accomplished dancer, she never lacked for dance partners.

Martha had a lifelong passion for environmental protection that culminated in her choice of a “green burial” at the Carolina Memorial Sanctuary in Mills River. She was buried there on April 9, 2022 following a graveside service, Rabbi Rachel Jackson of the Agudas Israel Congregation officiating.

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