Richard Bermitz remembers his wife and JLife contributor, Elaine Bermitz, who sadly passed away recently.
Elaine started submitting articles for JLife Manchester from its early appearance in the city. Up until then, she’d been working in the family business in advertising and marketing – in particular sport – so had never had the §opportunity to use her double honours degree in English and post graduate degree in Creative Writing.
However, when JLife dropped through our door in Whitefield, I was immediately impressed with its design and content and thought it might welcome a Manchester-based journalist prepared to receive some initial articles on people with interesting and surprising backstories; Elaine took to this with relish. This developed into her also reviewing events, theatre productions, and literature for the magazine over a period of more than 10 years.
Along the way she interviewed her favourite children’s Author, Michael Rosen, renowned Actress Janet Suzman when she appeared in ‘Rose’ at HOME Manchester, and Jon Sopel while he was BBC North America Correspondent. This interview was also when she hosted an online event for Limmud, her first experience of live presenting, and while nervous, she performed with confidence and aplomb.
Elaine often received compliments for her articles and always asked me: “Are people just being kind?” as she never truly appreciated how well she wrote or the value of her pieces.
During COVID she was inspired to write a poem a day, and several of these appeared in the magazine. These were all shared on a WhatsApp group and loved by the members who felt inspired by her words.
Elaine received the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in September 2023 and faced it with characteristic bravery, continuing to write as often as she could, even when feeling unwell.
Most poignantly this included writing a deeply personal and honest blog of her cancer journey which can be found on JLife’s website, as can all her articles from past editions.
She was hugely grateful for the support JLife gave her during her illness and she formed close friendships with the team over the 10-year period.
The outpouring of affection from family and friends has been incredible. Many people have mentioned her writing, particularly her blog, and how it affected them. She will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her.
