Sylvia W. (Wasserman) Alpert

Sylvia W. Alpert passed away peacefully at the ripe young age of 105+ on Friday, December 10, 2021, at home surrounded by her two daughters, Carol and Ellen, and others that loved her.

She was born on August 28, 1916, to Martha and Joseph Wasserman and grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.  She attended Erasmus High School with playwright Arthur Miller and graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in Sociology in 1937. 
On vacation in Miami Beach, she met her future husband, Louis H. Alpert, who was from Gloversville, NY and owned a leather boot company in Dolgeville, NY.  They married in 1945 and raised their two daughters in Gloversville until Lou’s death in 1965, when Sylvia was only 48 years old.
Since she needed to return to work, Syl and the girls moved to Albany, NY to be closer to Lou’s identical twin brother, Dr. Morris Alpert.  Her first job was as a Truant Officer.  She also went back to school at the College of St. Rose to become a teacher.  She started a long career as a 3rd Grade teacher in the Albany Public School System at the age of 50 and retired 22 years later.  Once she retired, she became a Volunteer at Albany Memorial Hospital, until the age of 90. 
She was still driving until the age of 94, she still went to PT until the age of 103 and played solitaire on her IPAD until a few weeks before she died. 
Sylvia loved to read, especially murder mysteries and spent countless hours at the Guilderland Public Library over the years. She loved her Golden Girls, Criminal Minds, Ninja Warriors and soppy Hallmark Movies. 
Sylvia credited her long life to not eating green vegetables or exercising and eating lots of chocolate! Truth be told, she loved asparagus and taught her daughters how to swim and play tennis. She was a very active, energetic person.
Syl did love her sweets, especially Hershey Chocolate bars and kisses and the best present you could give her was a box of chocolates! She also was a big fan of Mallomars, Cracker Jacks, Cheetos and Sonia’s Brownies, to name a few!
And she was always fashionable and “put together”! She often said her first steps were in Loehmann’s in Brooklyn!  She was a big fan of Boscov’s, Talbot’s and The Loft! 
For her last birthday celebration, her 105th, Mayor Kathy Sheehan honored Sylvia at her Birthday Party by proclaiming Saturday, August 28, 2021 “Sylvia W. Alpert Day” in the City of Albany. 
Sylvia loved traveling with her sister Rita around the world, as well as with her daughters to places like China, London, Italy, Costa Rica and cruises on the QE2 and QM2.  
She brought great joy to her daughters, and also to Janice, Ellen’s life partner, her fabulous caregivers, the Krakower family (niece Judy and husband Stephen) and her friends, young and old. 
She will be missed by so many that she touched, near and far.  
Donations in her honor can be made to the Guilderland Public Library or a Children’s organization of your choice.

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