Marian Javits

Marion Ann Burros (she spelled her first name Marian episodically, including later in life) was born on Jan. 19, 1925, in Detroit, the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her father, Morris, was a largely unsuccessful furrier and inventor. (Among his brainstorms was a radio speaker shaped like a Buddha.) Her mother, the former Clara Krellman, was an electrologist. When Marion was an infant, the family moved to the Bronx and then to Harlem, where they went on welfare. Her parents later separated. After graduating from James Monroe High School, she studied drama at the New School for Social Research (without graduating) and unsuccessfully pursued an acting career in Hollywood. (She did, however, have a minor role as an F.B.I. secretary in the 1960 movie “Who Was That Lady?” with Dean Martin, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.) She met Mr. Javits, a divorced lawyer at the time, in 1945, when they were working to elect Jonah J. Goldstein, the Republican-Liberal candidate for mayor. (William O’Dwyer, a Democrat, won.) They married two years later. In addition to her son Joshua, she is survived by two daughters, Joy and Carla Javits; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.