ALI

SYLVIA JEAN FREEMAN

Sylvia Jean Freeman Ali was born on April 11, 1933, and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Louis and Irma Freeman. She was the oldest of three children. Her younger brother, Alfie, died at the age of four. Her younger sister, Ruth, died in 2023.

Sylvia was a true lifetime learner. She attended Liberty Elementary School and graduated from Peabody High School in 1951. She obtained a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Western Maryland. Later, as a senior citizen, she took classes for many years at the University of Pittsburgh through the OSHER program.

Sylvia raised her five children in Pittsburgh and later in Maine. She spent most of her working life as a teacher and as a librarian. In 1990, she gave up her position at the Baxter School for the Deaf in order to return to Pittsburgh and help to take care of her 87-year-old mother.

Sylvia especially loved classical and folk music and she played violin, viola, piano, recorder, and tin whistle. She played in several community orchestras and a string quartet. She was also a talented artist and poet.

Sylvia loved exploring places and cultures. She worked briefly for the State Department in Washington, D.C. in the 1950s, and in later life, she was eventually able to visit Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, and China. She also loved studying languages: Latin, French, German, Sanskrit, Bengali, sign language, Irish, Yiddish and Chinese. She translated several works by her great-uncle, Jakob Elias Poritzky, from German to English.

Sylvia was very devoted to her family and friends. She loved life. She was a free thinker and a true bohemian. She had many quirky and unique ways of thinking about things and doing things, and she was always supportive and never judgmental of other people.

Sylvia is survived by her five children, Robbie, Roshida, Rahim, Sheila and Liana; her niece, Cheri; and her nephew, Michael; her seven grandchildren, Irma, Abraham, Sylvia, Eliza, Jacob, Elias and Natalie; and her grandniece, Clio.

Friends will meet at RALPH SCHUGAR CHAPEL INC., 5509 Centre Avenue, Shadyside, on Friday, March 13, 2026, at 12 noon and then proceed to Shaare Torah Cemetery for 1 P.M., Graveside Services.

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