Sara Kobacker

BOCA RATON, FL — Sara Jo Kobacker, age 91, of Boca Raton, FL, died on Saturday, June 22 in Boca Raton. She was born Sara Jo Borisky in Chattanooga, Tennessee on June 7, 1928, the daughter of Abe and Bertha Borisky. She attended Vanderbilt University, where she was a proud member of Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority. In 1949, she married Art Kobacker of Columbus, Ohio, and moved up north. Their 58-year marriage ended in 2007 at Art’s death. During her life with Art, she lived in Steubenville, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, and finally Boca Raton, Florida. She and Art spent many summers in the home they built on Nantucket Island. At Art’s strong urging, the two of them travelled the world, experiencing dozens of places and cultures. Sara Jo was a past director of The League of Women Voters, Director, Steubenville, OH, The National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, President of Temple Beth El Sisterhood, Steubenville, OH, United Way of Jefferson County, Co-Chairman Women's Division, Community Film Association, Trustee, Columbus Museum of Art, Trustee, Players Theater of Columbus, Trustee, Marburn Academy, Trustee, Art & Beautification Temple Israel, Co-Chair Greater Columbus Arts Council, Trustee Riverside Methodist Hospital Foundation, Trustee Homeless Family Foundation Advisory Board Ohio Hospice Organization Advisory Board, Temple Israel Foundation Board, Advancement Committee of the Columbus Foundation, I Know I Can, Columbus, Ohio, Vice Chair Alexis de Tocqueville Society, United Way of Palm Beach County, to which, in 1997, Sara Jo and Art made a gift to the United Way of Palm Beach County, FL, which at that time was the largest gift in its history, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, trustee, the National Hospice Foundation, and the Kobacker Foundation at the Columbus (Ohio) Foundation. In 1999 she received both the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Leadership Award for Outstanding Service And Commitment to Community and the Sun-Sentinel Publisher's Community Service Award. Art and Sara Jo, along with other family members, made a substantial gift to Hospice at Riverside Hospital, now Ohio Health, and as a result, a state-of-the-art residential hospice facility was built and named Kobacker House. Sara Jo and Art were also strong supporters of and generous donors to the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism, in Washington, DC, whose headquarters building is now named the Arthur and Sara Jo Kobacker Building. One of Sara Jo’s proudest accomplishments was her involvement, along with Art, in the creation and opening in the year 2000 of the first public school to be opened in Delray Beach, Florida in 30 Years. The school, now called the Village Academy School on the Art & Sara Jo Kobacker Campus, serves students from low income homes from birth (Head Start) through 12th Grade, endeavoring to ensure that its students are well prepared for post-secondary school success. The Kobackers were both passionate lovers of art, collecting art from a wide range of disciplines, from antique Asian celadon and snuff bottles to New England scrimshaw to impressionist, modern and contemporary sculpture and painting. And Sara Jo was creative and artistic in her own pursuits. She loved to entertain and did it with great flair. From small dinner parties at home to a weekend-long reunion of some 300 members of the Kobacker family, she was immensely talented, and always knew how to make the event fun and beautiful for all. She will be missed for her warmth, her loving nature, and for her terrific sense of humor. In addition to her husband, Art, Sara Jo was preceded in death by her parents, Abe and Bertha Borisky, and her brother Joel David (Kip) Borisky. She is survived by a daughter, Peggy Kobacker (David) Shiffrin, of Washington, DC, a son, Alfred J. Kobacker, II (Liz Trimbach), of Barnstable, MA; grandchildren Aronson and Miriam Kobacker, Laura Shiffrin, and Carrie Shiffrin (Moudy Elkammash); and large