Arlene "Bonnie" Tenenbaum
אביבה ברכה בת חיה רישה ואריה שלום
1944 - 2020
Bonnie Tenenbaum passed away on October 15, 2020, two days after her 76th birthday. She is survived by her beloved husband, Marty, cherished son Josh, daughter-in-law Mira and granddaughter Abi; sisters Joanne and Ann and brothers Malcolm and Steve; as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins. In the final years of her life, she treasured her friendship with her caregiver, Leo Guzman.
Bonnie was an educator for nearly 50 years. She was especially dedicated to projects with few resources. Because she graduated from both Cal and Stanford, she used to joke that her team never lost a Big Game. Known for her thoughtfulness and generosity, Bonnie helped establish several enduring institutions in the Jewish community. In lieu of flowers, please honor her memory by supporting your favorite educational organization.
The brief obituary above was composed by Bonnie herself a few weeks before her death, when she was first diagnosed with leukemia. We made only slight edits and inserted the date of death. For more on Bonnie's extraordinary life, please see the extended obituary here.
Funeral
Bonnie's funeral took place Monday, October 19, 2020 at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, CA. Because of the COVID19 pandemic, only a small number of friends and family could be present, so the funeral was livestreamed on Zoom. A recording is available here.
Since music does not come through well on Zoom, we've also uploaded a better recording of Bonnie's granddaughter Abi singing Psalm 23 (from the second movement of Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms).
Text of Bonnie's son Josh's eulogy
In lieu of flowers or food contributions ...
Bonnie dedicated her life to education. We ask that, in lieu of flowers or traditional food contributions, you honor her memory by donating to one of the many educational organizations that she supported, such as:
... or to any other educational institution of your choice.
Please help us honor Bonnie by contributing pictures and memories
You can designate the pictures and/or stories that you share here to go just to the family or to be added to this webpage. Note that everything will be added manually, so it might take a couple of days before your submission makes it onto the page. Please come back later to see what others have contributed!
For any questions or issues regarding this webpage, please contact Bonnie's daughter-in-law Mira (mirabernstein@gmail.com).