Julie was a passionate fan of traditional jazz and a loyal supporter of the NOMC from our founding in 1998 until the day she died. She was a second-generation, life-long resident of Wooster,Ohio while maintaining a second home in her beloved French Quarter of New Orleans. As a cousin accurately described her, she will be missed by thousands and will roam our lives forever.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Julie was the only child of the 40-year-old Sadie Glick Amster and Nick S. Amster. She later graduated of Vassar College with a B.A. in economics in 1946. After being accepted to the law school at Western-Reserve University, she took the more normal path of a girl of her time, and married Joseph Eli Fishelson, a Captain from Wisconsin who was 10 years her senior and who would be her husband for 44 years (1947 until his passing in 1991).
She is survived by her three children, Nicholas Amster Jay Fishelson born in 1948; Ida Sue Fishelson born in 1950; and David Joseph Fishelson born in 1956; as well as four grandchildren, Samuel (18), Natasha (16), Eli (15), Max (15) and her daughters-in-law, Sarah Jane Buck and Erana Kratounis.
Julie was a world traveler who maintained countless contacts from her journeys, and a great friend to many causes, beliefs, and individuals. She described herself as “a civic activist with emphasis on women’s issues, politics, community development, education and the arts,” as well as an “enthusiast of early traditional New Orleans jazz.”
She was a founder of the Ida Sue School – Nick Amster Sheltered Workshop, the Wayne Center for the Arts, Main Street Wooster, the Wooster League of Women Voters and Every Woman’s House (to whom she donated her childhood home). She served as a board member or committee member at The College of Wooster, Massachusetts School of Law, Anti-Defamation League (regional board), National Jewish Council, American Israel Public Affairs Council, Planned Parenthood of North Central Ohio and Ohio Citizens for the Arts. A loyal supporter of the Democratic Party, she was an Ohio delegate at the national convention of 2000.