Rose Cefkin

Rose Cefkin, 93, died peacefully on October 8, 2014. Born October 2, 1921 in New York City, Rose was the third of four girls born to Benjamin Mackanick and Bella Pitkowsky. Her oldest sister Lillian died as a girl but Rose and her sisters Frieda (Wasserman) and Miriam (Toback) remained the most loving of sisters throughout their lives. Known both for her intelligence and beauty, Rose graduated from Morris High School in the Bronx in 1937, entering Hunter College at the age of 16. She graduated in February 1941 with a B.A. in Chemistry and minor in Physics. She worked for the U.S. Army Signal Corps Lab as a Mathematician from 1941 to 1945, all during World War II. She then started a career in technical and scientific editing with Interscience Publishers and worked on the first ten volumes of the “Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.” She continued to edit on a freelance basis while raising her family and then worked for the City of Fort Collins (1973-1980) followed by the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture (1981-1991) as the Assistant Editor for the Publications Section. She married J. Leo Cefkin in 1949 (divorced 1975) and together they had four children. They moved to Fort Collins in 1956. She made friends wherever she went, and was active in the community, including the League of Women Voters and Congregation Har Shalom. An avid cookbook and recipe collector, Rose never threw out a newspaper without reading each page thoroughly and was known for playing fierce games of Scrabble and bridge. An adventurer and lover of trying different foods, she traveled to Africa, Asia, and Europe. She loved her family above all. She is survived by her children Judith Cefkin and her husband Paul Boyd (of Arlington, VA), Barbara and Perry Springer (of Fort Collins), Jonathan and Eed Cefkin (of Denver), and Melissa Cefkin and Mazyar Lotfalian (of San Jose, CA), her grandchildren Audrey and Matt Salberg, Allison Springer, Tarika Cefkin, Brittany Springer, and Benjamin Cefkin, and two great grand children, Owen and Payton Salberg. A private family gathering was held. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in her name to Pathways Hospice or charitable organizations supporting social welfare or disease research and treatment.

Rose Cefkin

October 2, 1921 - October 8, 2014