Barbara S. Reiss
1942 – 2025
It is with great sadness that we announce that Barbara S. Reiss, of Langhorne, PA, died on January 16, 2025 after a courageous two-year battle with ovarian cancer.
Born on July 7th, 1942 in Brooklyn, NY to Ida and Philip Reiss, Barbara’s family moved to Yardville, NJ when she was 10 years old. She was a gifted student, graduating from Hamilton High West in 1960.
She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at Douglass College and later a master of arts in teaching at Colgate University. Barbara was especially proud to be a part of Colgate’s 1st graduating class that included women! After graduate school, she moved to Manhattan where she lived up until the last few years.
Barbara was a French teacher in New York’s Manhasset School District. Over a long career, she served as president of the teacher’s union.
She never married, but Barbara loved traveling with her partner Sandford Ackerman, who predeceased her. They traveled around the world together, and she loved learning about new cultures and taking photos of all the wonderful places they went. When she retired from teaching she volunteered as a docent at the Bronx Zoo. She also volunteered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, thoroughly enjoying everything Manhattan offered her.
Barbara is predeceased by her parents Ida and Philip Reiss, and by her nephew Joshua Reiss.
She is survived by her loving brother and sister-in-law, Gary and Judi Reiss of Lower Makefield Township, PA, her nephews Adam (Rachel) Reiss, Jordan (Lisa) Reiss, Jonathan (Kelly) Reiss, and her niece Jennifer (Matthew) Sillman, all of Lower Makefield Township. She is also survived by her 7 grandnieces and grandnephew: Addison, Amelia, Collette, Jackson, Vivian, Faye, Hannah and Jocelyn – who were the sunshine in her life! She is also survived by her cousins and their children, who were always an important part of her life.
Barbara loved her family dearly and each one of them supported her throughout her life, and especially during her illness. The world has lost a wonderful woman who will be deeply missed.
Funeral services and burial are precisely at 10:30 am (please arrive by 10:15am) on Tuesday, January 21 at Ewing Cemetery, 78 Scotch Road, Ewing, NJ.
Shiva will be observed at the home of Gary and Judi Reiss Tuesday – Thursday from 6pm – 8pm, with a minyan at 7pm.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Garden of Reflection – Pennsylvania Memorial to Victims of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, and to the Bucks County SPCA, or to a charity of the donor’s choice.
Funeral arrangements are by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel. OrlandsMemorialChapel.com/Barbara-Reiss