Barbara Joyce Morowitz

Died July 28, 2016 at age 74. A true balaboosta of the old Jewish-American school, Barbara was a passionate cook, gardener, and visual artist whose canvas was her surroundings. In her hands, a few casually picked flowers and leaves became a vivid composition, and a collection of disparate objects became a moving still life. But her greatest passion was to sweeten the lives of her family and friends. No one who sat at her table ever got up less than stuffed or less than dazzled by the setting, and everyone felt warmly included and cared for.
Barbara was a genuine and unpretentious lover of culture, a gifted but self-deprecating pianist and artist, a mambo champ, a rebel, a stoic, a teacher by example, a fanatic for hand-squeezed orange juice and instant coffee, a speed demon behind the wheel, a thank-you note writer, and a doer of crosswords in ink. She was a Detroiter, a Washingtonian, a New Yorker, and an honorary citizen of Paris and Bergdorf Goodman. Next to Judaism, her religion was generosity.
She is survived by David, her husband of 52 years; and her children, Joel and Nancy, who will miss her sunny, tender and loving presence and her multiple daily phone calls ("like breathing in and out - involuntary," she would say). She is also survived by Simone Goodman, her sister by choice, and many dear and devoted friends.
A service will be held at Washington Hebrew Congregation, 3935 Macomb Street, NW, on Monday, August 1, 2016, at 11 a.m. The family will be observing shiva and receiving friends at their home following the service from 1pm to 8pm. Donations may be made to Washington Home and Community Hospices, 3720 Upton St., NW, Washington, DC 20016.