In her 105 years, Ida Demsky Sahr always seemed to look on the sunny side.
Known for her genial spirit, the Amsterdam native and Schenectady resident died in her home on Thursday, March 28.
“She was one of the most positive, supportive, encouraging people,” said Matthew Cutler, rabbi at Schenectady’s Congregation Gates of Heaven, where Sahr’s funeral was held last week.
The daughter of the late Harry and Bryna Demsky, she was one of seven children, including her brother, the late Kirk Douglas; and sisters, Betty Simon, Marion Byck, Kay Goodman, Ruth Greenstein and Fritzi Becker.
“She had the most radiant smile . . . and she was gregarious in terms of her love of life. Nothing was more important than the people that she met and the family that she was raising,” Cutler said.
As a young woman, Sahr moved to Schenectady where she met her husband Iman "Hy" Sahr.
She had two children, Janet Sahr and Marilyn Gordon, and several grandchildren including Brian and Debra Gordon and Amy and Todd Urowsky. Sahr was also the great-grandmother of Aaron and Brooke Gordon, Stacy Gordon and Jake and Tyler Urowsky.
Some may remember her as the smiling face they looked forward to seeing at Loblaws Super Market, as her obituary noted. Sahr was also deeply rooted in the local Jewish community.
She was a member of Beth Israel Synagogue for over 65 years and helped fundraise for the Schenectady Jewish Community Center. She was also a member of the Jewish Friendship Bowling League, Beth Israel Sisterhood and the United Order of True Sisters, where she worked to help establish the Schenectady Hospice Program.
“She made it a point to be involved and she instilled in her daughters that essence of being involved in community,” Cutler said.
Sahr also had a playful spirit. For her 90th birthday, the longtime New York Yankees fan went to Yankee Stadium with her family and, during the game, held up a sign that said “I'm 90 and this is my first trip to Yankee Stadium.”
“She got put up on the jumbotron and she leaned over to her family and she said, ‘My brother isn’t the only one on the big screen,’” Cutler said.
Douglas, known as Izzy Demsky while growing up, left Amsterdam to star in hit movies including “Spartacus,” “Paths of Glory” and many others.
Neither he nor Sahr had an easy adolescence. The children of Russian Jews who emigrated to the United States, their father was a local “ragman” who struggled to make a living, as Douglas described in his 1988 autobiography "The Ragman's Son."
“They had two very different orientations toward the past,” said William Simons, a SUNY Oneonta history professor emeritus, who has extensively researched Douglas’ life. “He was once asked what was the main legacy that you took from Amsterdam, and he thought [and after] a moment, he said ‘Anger.’”
Sahr seemed to feel differently. As she told The Gazette in 2016, although the family was poor, Sahr remembered plenty of happy times in their Amsterdam home.
"I've had a wonderful life, and he was a wonderful boy, a wonderful brother," said Sahr at the time. "I love Amsterdam and I can remember my brother with all those sisters. We used to have a lot of fun with him, but he was great with us."
At her funeral, loved ones recounted that, before Douglas made a name for himself in Hollywood, he was the brother who would take his laundry to Sahr’s house.
Family members also marveled at how many historic events Sahr saw during her lifetime. She survived two pandemics, including the Spanish flu and COVID-19. She lived through World War II and the Vietnam War. She saw the moon landing and the proliferation of automobiles.
Simons, who attended Sahr’s funeral, noted, “She was not only part of the Greatest Generation, she was, at least in the world of the Demskys, the last of her generation.”
