Debra Freedman
SPRINGFIELD, MA - It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that the family mourns the loss of Debra Freedman. She died peacefully at her home in Lantana, FL, on Wednesday, November 10.
She was born on July 5, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY, to Tabby M. and Rose S. Koff. The family, with Debra and her younger brother Zale, moved to Mount Vernon, NY, around 1945. The friends she made at A.B. Davis High School, class of 1954, stayed with her throughout her life. Active in the Dramatic Society, her love of theater stayed with her as she attended Mount Holyoke College. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she graduated magna cum laude in 1958. She created the first interdepartmental major, linking the English and theater arts programs.
She met Ned Freedman, of Springfield, her junior year. They married in December 1957, during the holiday vacation of her senior year. They designed and built the family home in Longmeadow, raising their three children, Tabi, Eric, and Marissa, there.
While raising a family, Debra continued with her theatrical interests. As a print, television, and film actress, model, and spokesperson, she was the voice and face of many products and companies throughout New England. She was also a producer, director, and writer, with several award-winning documentaries under her belt. Active in charity work, she was the local host for the United Cerebral Palsy Telethon for 10 years. If that wasn’t enough, she also founded Roundabout Theatre, a five-women reader’s theater company, who took their productions all across New England for a decade.
She and her husband Ned designed and built several homes together, allowing the family to enjoy summers in Clinton, CT, and winters skiing at Mount Snow, in West Dover, VT. Her talent and skill in interior design led to her opening a successful residential design practice, which then led to her joining the commercial/contract design division of a regional company. She was very successful in the contract design world, creating the interiors for multiple hotels, corporate headquarters, and condominium developments.
Debra was preceded in death by her loving husband Ned Freedman and her brother Zale Koff. She is greatly missed by her daughter Tabi Freedman, of West Dover, VT; her son Eric Freedman and his wife Lori, of White Plains, NY, and Clinton, CT, and their sons Max and Harris Freedman; and her daughter Marissa Queen and her husband Jeffrey, of Boca Raton, FL, and Lake George, NY, and their sons Jason and Jared Queen. She also leaves her in-laws Ruth Freedman, Joan Koff, Phyllis and Herb Cohen, and their children and grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Temple Beth El, 979 Dickinson Street, Springfield, MA 01108.
