Susan Avis Lichtig, age 67, died on Sept. 18, 2019 in her home in East Windsor, N.J. Prior to September 2018, she had been a longtime resident of Highland Park, N.J., and active in the community.
Susan was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA on Dec. 25, 1951, daughter of Edwin Lichtig, Jr. and Edna Frieder Lichtig. Early in her life, Susan was one of just a handful of women to be selected to attend Dartmouth College’s first Exchange Program. After graduating from Wheaton College, in Norton, MA as a French major, she received an EdM in Educational Media from Boston University. For most of her career, she served as a quality assurance professional and corporate training instructor/designer at Bellcore, Telcordia, ADP and the International Monetary Fund.
Her greatest passion was in creative expression. She devoted herself to cooking special gourmet meals for family and friends, developing her own mixed media art forms, and teaching art at local senior centers, at the Highland Park library as well as regionally, e.g., as a teaching intern at the International Center for Photography in NYC and as a teacher’s aid for artist Mary Taylor. She sought out tutelage by attending leading art programs such as at the Mendocino Art Center, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Maine Media Workshops, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Peters Valley and the Center for Book Arts in New York City. She drew inspiration from individuals accomplished in their craft. To name a few – Christine Lafuente, Wolf Kahn, Jon Cone, Elizabeth Opalenik, and Jan Sitts.
She had been active for a number of years with the Highland Park Arts Commission by joining the artistic community in exhibiting her work and designing store displays. On a one-to-one level, she patiently and enthusiastically nurtured the creative spark wherever she saw it manifesting in others, young and old and treasured art-making for the beauty and peace it gave.
She is survived by her two sisters, Karen Lichtig of NYC, and Ellen Lichtig of Novato, CA. Memorial contributions in Susan’s name may be made to the Breast Cancer Resource Center of the YWCA Princeton. An art fund is also in the works. Funeral arrangements were made through Riverside Memorial Chapel, Ewing, NJ.