Susan Isman

Susan Isman, passed away at 61 years old, on May 2nd, 2023. She was born in The Bronx, NY in 1961, but lived in Maryland for most of her life and resided in Gaithersburg Maryland for the last several years. She is survived by her mother, Dorothy McCawley (and Joseph DeMiranda) of Loris, South Carolina, brothers Ken (and Joan) of Laurel, Maryland, and David (and Tammy) Isman of Virginia Beach, Virginia, her sister, Janet Isman of Claysburg, Pennsylvania, and her two sons, Gregory Isaacs of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Nathan Berg of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. She is predeceased by Warren Isman, former Fire Chief of Montgomery County, Maryland, and Fairfax County, Virginia who passed away in 1991.

Susan battled valiantly against cancer for three years, with the support of her friends and family. Susan had two wonderful careers in her life, one being in Data Analytics and Computer Programming where she studied computer science at The University of Maryland. Her career encompassed NIH and Emmes, where she worked to help improve the lives of others through medicine and clinical trials. The other career that she was known for was her baking and catering career. Within her baking and catering career, she specialized in creating confections for people with certain food allergies and limitations so that they could enjoy food and/or sweets, Susan made it happen where you couldn’t tell the difference!

Susan had many passions in life, and two of her greatest were her love of cats and playing/listening to music. Throughout her life, she had many animal companions that brought comfort to herself and those around her, most recently her cat Emma. She played the Trumpet (First Chair in Magruder Symphony Band) for many years, as well as playing in the Old Line band (the local favorite parade band). Multiple trips to the Pacific Northwest made a significant impression, and she became an avid Washington Seahawks fan and watched every game she could.

For those who would like to attend in person, the funeral will be at Gan Zikaron - Garden of Remembrance, in Clarksburg, Maryland on Thursday, May 4th at 2:00 pm.  The service will also be live-streamed.  For the streaming services, please see the website below. https://www.gardenofremembrance.org/ We will be holding Shiva with her family at her Apartment at the following address, starting after the service Thursday (5/4) night at 7:30pm and Saturday (5/6) night at 8:30 pm: 310 High Gables Drive, Unit 203, Gaithersburg MD 20878.

In lieu of flowers (because many bouquets have Lilies and there are multiple cats), donations can be made to hope connections for Cancer here https://hopeconnectionsforcancer.org/ and the Warren Isman Memorial Scholarship at The University of Maryland here: https://www.celebratescholarships.umd.edu/giving/Fund.php?name=warren-isman-endowed-memorial-scholarship-in-fire-protection-engineering.