Obituary: Olive Ellner

Born on Oct. 21, 1927, in Manhattan, Olive Ellner was the daughter of Helen and Charles Isaacson, and stepdaughter of Milton Klein. Four years after her father’s sudden passing at 40, her mother remarried. Olive was an extremely outgoing and creative independent person. She graduated Mepham High School in Merrick, then attended the New School and Traphagen School of Design, both in New York City.

For her first job out of school, she was hired as chief designer for a leading Doll Clothes Company. At 24, Olive met her future husband, Lawrence Ellner, at a UJA fundraising cocktail party in New York City. It was love at first sight. After three weeks of dating, they got engaged, then married two months later. They were happily married for 59 years. Together, they built a rich life filled with love, laughter, and family togetherness.

Olive’s life focused on love of Judaism and Israel, philanthropy, tikkun olam, social justice, and most of all, family. During the Civil Rights Era, she organized and ran a food drive involving her Long Island community, collecting busloads of food to make the journey to the South when trucking companies refused. She baked 180 challahs for Jewish poor in the South Bronx through Hatzilu (meaning “Rescue”) and assembled Shabbat care packages to be distributed after their Friday synagogue luncheon at her local synagogue. She reached out to local rabbis collecting monies from their discretionary funds to purchase coats and shoes in the winter for those without.

Olive was a founder in Hadassah holding positions of chapter president, American affairs chairperson, and speaker on the Speakers Bureau. She traveled to local high schools teaching girls the importance of monthly breast self-exams, and to colleges registering students to vote.

Olive championed the cause of Soviet Jewry, organizing busloads of supporters for participation in marches in Washington, D.C., and New York City. She, along with masses of volunteers, made placards of Soviet Refuseniks who were denied freedom to emigrate because they were Jewish. She never stopped writing letters to the Refuseniks in the hopes that one day they would be released. Finally, on a march in New York City ending up at the United Nations, Natan Sharansky, a former Refusenik, spoke into loud-speakers after his long-awaited release. The people cried with joy since he was one of the many my mom and her team fought for.

Olive Ellner’s creativity was boundless. Her grandchildren had the best and most original costumes for Purim and Halloween. She had a reputation for her artistry. The director of musical productions at the local high school asked her to be the lead costume designer. She accepted, not expecting a cent in return, then designed, and sewed costumes for the local high school musical productions, such as, “Guys & Dolls,” “Gypsy,” “How to Succeed in Business,” to name a few. The students felt like $1,000,000 and gained great confidence through their acting. After these designing experiences, she was offered a permanent position as lead costume designer for a large community theatre. She turned down the offer because she always felt her family came first.

Even at 92, Olive organized a group of at least 10 residents and some of their friends and family from her local independent senior living community to knit large American flag laptop robes for disabled veterans at the Atlanta VA. Everything had to be “Just so” including the wrapping in white boxes with red, white, and blue yarns tied. A heartfelt patriotic poem written and illustrated by her granddaughter, Sarah Saltzman, was placed atop of the box. The boxes were then distributed to the Atlanta VA by a veteran living in the community.

Olive was an avid reader of mysteries, adventures, historical accounts, and non-fiction. Until mid- to late November, she was reading two newspapers daily: the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Atlanta Jewish Times, in addition to her books. She held stimulating discussions on current events, politics, and more. She was a great storyteller, sharing stories from her youth up until current day with her children and grandchildren alike.

Eleven years ago, after her husband, Larry’s, passing, she moved to Atlanta to be closer to her daughter, Lisa Saltzman (Larry) and granddaughter, Sarah. She shared meaningful family time with them not only for birthdays, holidays, and celebrations. Just being together for love of family made all the difference in her life and the lives of her loved ones.

She was pre-deceased by her beloved husband, Lawrence Ellner, in 2012, mother, Helen, and father, Charles Isaacson, as well as stepfather, Milton Klein.

Olive is survived by her children, Lisa (Larry), Joseph (Michele), Jane (Chris) as well as grandchildren, Sarah, Zachary (fiancé Claire), Molly (Gabe), Alex, Katie, Hannah (fiancé Ian), sister, Ruth, as well as nieces and nephews.

On behalf of Olive, her family would like to give special thanks to her loving and devoted caregivers, namely, Gladys, “Louis,” Nyemade, Betty, Royel, Titi, and Nikki for their kindness, support, and friendship during the last 1.5-plus years. Their presence and personalities brought joy and laughter to “Ms. Olive.”

Olive will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and true friend to so many.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Olive Ellner to Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Congregation Beth Shalom (Atlanta), Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Hadassah, or a charity of your choice.

The funeral was held on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in New York. May Olive Ellner’s memory be for a blessing to all who knew and loved her. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care 770-451-4999.