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Sag Harbor Express

Obituaries / Sag Harbor Express / 2067145

Erika Hecht of Sag Harbor Dies December 20

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Erika Hecht

Erika Hecht

authorStaff Writer on Jan 2, 2023

Erika Hecht (nee Hiekisch) of Sag Harbor, a Holocaust survivor, died on December 20. She was 88.

She was a creative woman of her own ways who learned and adapted from her early life experiences in hiding during the Holocaust and its aftermath, according to her family.

She attended medical school in Vienna, Austria, after the war. She moved to Canada in 1957 after marrying Thomas Hecht and subsequently became fully immersed in Jewish communal life in Montreal for over 30 years. During that time, she became one of Montreal’s best-known interior designers as a result of her unique talent, creativity, and style, her family said.

She was always a lover of Stowe, Vermont, where she spent many happy years in her second home. She moved to New York City in 1998, and then to her final home Sag Harbor a few years later. It was in Sag Harbor that she immersed herself in her writing. Her community of writers in the Ashawagh Writers Group provided her the strength and will to complete her memoir, “Don’t Ask My Name,” in 2021.

She was predeceased by her husband Robert Wadds; and her nephew Dr. Kenneth Dressler. She is survived by her children Marion, Judy, and Robert; son-in-law David; daughter-in-law Patty; grandchildren Sam and Olivia.

Donations in her memory can be made to Yad Vashem.

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