Marcia Wallace

Marcia Tuchman Svetkey Wallace, 3/13/1925-4/13/2023 died in her home at the age of 98 after a brief illness. She was born in Brooklyn to Anna and Jacob Tuchman, founders of the legendary Kotimsky and Tuchman Catering Company. She was the younger sister of the late Joseph Tuchman and Gertrude (Zuckerman). At the end of her life, she still had friends from her grade school years in Brooklyn.

She attended Smith college, graduating in three years with the intent of joining the armed services during World War II (either in the WAVES or the WACS, she characteristically never could decide). With her typical self-effacing humor, she always said the allies were lucky that the war ended before she could enlist. Thereafter, she was a devoted pacifist, always believing that people and even nations could work out differences through respectful discussion.

She went on to obtain a Master's in Social Work from the University of Chicago and as a new social worker was involved in the relocation of residents in what became Stuyvesant Town. She retained a life-long interest in affordable housing and preventing homelessness. She left the workforce when she married Edward Robert Svetkey, with whom she had four surviving children. While out of the workforce in the early child-rearing years, she remained active intellectually and socially. When she was 41, Edward died suddenly. In what would become a recurring theme, she mustered super-human resilience to raise and support her children. She re-entered the workforce, where she remained until her final retirement at the age of 90. She worked many years in adoption services, mental health, and finally as a representative of the International Federation of Social Workers at the United Nations (her favorite job).

In 1969, she married the late Buddy Wallace, also widowed, and created a blended family with a total of 7 children. It is a testament to her extraordinary ability to build and sustain relationships that this blended family became a true family that is now mourning her death and honoring her memory together.

When Buddy died in 1997, she again mustered her resilience, moved from her magnificent home in Scarsdale to Purchase, and entered a relationship with the late Martin Rubenstein, embracing his children and grandchildren and inspiring their love and devotion.

Her circle of friends and family is enormous. Those who knew her and loved her will remember her intellect, her curiosity, her integrity, her dedication to fairness, her unparalleled fashion sense, her culinary skill, her quirky progressive politics, her immense capacity for love, and her strongly held opinions and her willingness to hear (and reject) those of others.

Marcia is survived by her children - Susan Svetkey (Stephen Houze), Laura Svetkey, Jonathan Svetkey (Ilana Svetkey), Benjamin Wallace (Gwen Griffith), Benjamin Svetkey (Lenka Ulrichova). Elizabeth Wallace, Nancy Wallace Weisberg (Ford Weisberg), and Charles van der Horst (Laura) pre-deceased her. She is survived by 22 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

A memorial service for Marcia Tuchman Svetkey Wallace will take place:
June 11, 2023; 10am
Schulman Chapel in the Woods
Kol Ami Synagogue
252 Soundview Ave
White Plains, NY

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to:
Lifting Up Westchester https://www.liftingupwestchester.org/donate
Human Development Services: https://www.hdsw.org/donate-now