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DARIEN, Conn. -- Marjorie Koster Beinfield -- a Darien resident, formerly a 60-year Westport resident -- died on Saturday, March 12. She was 90.
Beinfield and her husband were involved in numerous causes promoting equal rights and social justice over the years. Following the Mississippi summer of 1964, they hosted a reception after the Leonard Bernstein and Isaac Stern benefit concert for the Student Non-Violent Organizing Committee. The Beinfields had met Martin Luther King Jr., at Temple Israel in Westport, in the spring of 1964.
She joined Women's Strike for Peace in the early 1960s to protest nuclear arms. She also organized a group for elders so together they could process their lives and losses. It continues to meet decades later. Beinfield liked to try new things. Late in life, she took up javelin throwing -- and won a gold medal in the May 2000 Senior Olympics.
She enrolled in a special counseling program at Einstein Medical College and graduated from Adelphi University with a master's in social work in 1976. As the social worker on the psych unit at Norwalk Hospital for 15 years, she helped people transition back into their lives. She maintained a private practice for 30 years, in Westport.
Beinfield is survived by her four children, Harriet of San Francisco, Lynn of Colorado Springs, Bruce of Norwalk, Elizabeth of Rowayton and adoptive son John Edoga, native of Nigeria and resident of New York; grandchildren Bear Korngold, Becca Roodhuyzen, Jenny Friedman, David Roodhuyzen, Alex Beinfield, Zoe Hamann, Carolyn and Suzanne Beinfield, and Miata and Che Edoga; and brothers Richard and Robert Koster.
She was predeceased by her husband, Malcolm Beinfield, Westport’s first board-certified surgeon; parents Lily Silverstone Koster and surgeon Harry Koster, a founder of Crown Heights Hospital; sister Rose Singer; and her adoptive granddaughter Sherifa Edoga.
Services will take place at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 18, at Temple Israel, 14 Coleytown Rd., in Westport.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be sent to Open Door Shelter, 4 Merritt St., South Norwalk, CT 06854, or by clicking here.
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