Elizabeth Peggy Loeb

The Loeb family marks with profound sadness the passing of Elizabeth 'Peggy' Loeb, 84 wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, Pan American Stewardess, gourmet cook, animal lover, and jewelry designer extraordinaire. Born in Bad Kissingen, Germany as trouble was mounting in that country, Peggy spent much of her school years in Vevey, Switzerland, and later studied at Charles University in Prague. Towards the end of WWII, she nursed German soldiers, then fled Czechoslovakia to avoid the advancing Russian army. Walking for three months at night and often hiding in foxholes to avoid rapacious soldiers, she made her way to the Bavarian town of Freising, where an uncle was a city elder. When the US Army arrived, Peggy--who spoke perfect English -- was persuaded by her uncle to surrender the town. After the war, Peggy's command of English also landed her a secretarial position with the British Counsel General in Frankfurt, and later a position with Pan American Airlines. Falling in with a lively international crowd in post-war Frankfurt, she met Marshall Loeb, an American correspondent with the United Press. Their unlikely romance startled both families, and they were married in August, 1954 in the Frankfurt City Hall. A planned year-long honeymoon around the world was cut a bit short by the arrival of Michael Rolf, who was later joined by a sister, Margaret Karen. Peggy devoted herself to her family and to guiding the flourishing journalistic career of her husband, who became the Managing Editor of Money and Fortune Magazines, a radio and television commentator, and the author of more than a dozen books. The family traveled widely in support of Marshall's work, and settled in Scarsdale, New York, where Peggy held court in her spacious kitchen and at the Scarsdale pool, impressing friends with her incisive take on events of the day, her candid appraisal of people, her sage advice, puckish humor, and cultivated tastes. A memorial service will be held Sunday, November 14, at 5 pm at The Core Club, 66 East 55th Street, in New York City. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in her memory to the Humane Society of New York (212) 752-4842.