Roxanne Fand

Roxanne Joyce Fand, born on September 7, 1937 in Queens, New York, has died at the age of 87, on December 2, 2024. The eldest of three daughters born to Jewish parents Hyman and Mary Gershuny, Roxanne spent her youth moving with her family to various places in upstate New York, with many memories made in Rochester. After attending The Universities of Rochester and Brockport, where she got her bachelor's degree, she traveled to Israel to go back to her roots. There, she experienced four years of kibbutz life before returning to the United States

Back in New York, she met and married Richard Fand in 1966. On what she later called their "permanent honeymoon," the couple moved to Hawaii where they raised three daughters. Roxanne returned to education as a teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL) in primary school, then college, and progressed to get her Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she taught as a professor until her retirement.

Richard Fand died in 2006 and in 2010, Roxanne relocated to Oceanside, in San Diego, California. She lived happily there, continuing her interests in literature, progressive political activism, and her community. In 2019 she was diagnosed with dementia and was cared for by her two older daughters until her death. She was a lover of stories, poetry, music, live theater, art, different cultures, social justice, spirituality, and eco-consciousness.

She is buried in a green cemetery, in alignment with her environmentalism. She is survived by daughters M. Raya Fand, Daria A. Fand, A. Lani Weissbach, sister Grace Gershuny, and three grandchildren, Jeremiah, Naomi, and David. She will be remembered as a gentle and bright spirit who welcomed everyone into her circle, radiating lovingkindness to all who knew her.