Judith Stern Riklis

RIKLIS--Judith Stern, a proud daughter of Israel, died January 15 in New York City where she lived. She was born 83 years ago to one of Tel Aviv's early families. Her grandfather was Aharon-Zelig Krinkin, an emigrant from Czarist Russia, who established one of Tel Avivs first pharmacies. (The phone number was ''23''.) Judith was raised in Tel Aviv and graduated from the Gymnasia Herzliya, the first school in what was then Palestine to teach exclusively in Hebrew. It was there that she met her future husband, Meshulam Riklis, the Israeli-American financier and philanthropist. With him and their first-born, the couple went to America to attend college. They settled for a time in Minneapolis where both Judith and Meshulam taught Hebrew school and Meshulam worked also as a stock broker. The couple eventually moved to the New York area where Judith raised her three children, Mona Ackerman, Marcia Riklis and Ira D. Riklis. After the Riklis marriage ended in divorce, Judith maintained homes in both New York and Jerusalem with Isaac Moyal, her companion until his death. Judith took a passionate interest in the Jewish state, contributing to many charities, including the Hadassah Hospital, the Bat Sheva dance troupe and the Soldiers Welfare Association. A building on the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University is named for her. Judith was a warm woman, devoted to her family. She loved and supported the arts and had a keen eye for painting. In addition to her children and her daughter-inlaw, Diana Riklis, Judith is survived by six grandchildren, Ari Ackerman, Gila (and Roy) Steinbock, Jordana (and Ben) Cooperberg, Talia (and Andrew) Day, Daniella Hirschfeld and David Hirschfeld; four great - grandchildren, Layla, Ayelet, Leo and Leora.