Gwen Gilens

Gwen Gilens, born in Los Angeles 90 years ago, died peacefully at her home in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania on February 23rd. A graduate of UCLA and a member of the Sigma Delta Tau sorority, Gwen taught second grade, raised three children, was a volunteer fund raiser for the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, and was the founding director of the Women’s Division of the Orange County UJA/Federation Campaign.

Gwen moved to Philadelphia in 1977 when her husband, Alvin Gilens, became the Campaign Director for the Philadelphia Federation of Allied Jewish Agencies. In Philadelphia, she directed the campaign to fund a new Hillel House at the University of Pennsylvania. Subsequently she became the first Development Director for the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Elkins Park.

Responding to her life-long interest in plants and nature, she earned a degree in Landscape Design at Temple University and embarked on a notable thirty-year career as a Landscape Designer.

Throughout her life she followed her interests in music, art, and the intrigue of travel in order to understand and appreciate other cultures, cuisines, and habitats. Her final overseas trip, at the end of 2024, reflected many of her motivations. Paying respects to Denmark, the only European country that created a government policy to save its Jews during World War II, she achieved a lifelong dream by visiting that country.

Gwen is survived by her husband Alvin, son Martin Gilens and his wife Janet Felton, son Todd Gilens and his partner Heather Burns, daughter Sharona Départ and her husband Cyril Départ, and two remarkable grandchildren, Joshua Gilens and his fiancée Jessica Floyd, and Naomi Gilens and her husband Adi Kamdar, with Gwen’s treasured great-grandchildren Jonah and Lily Kamdar. 

Graveside services will be at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles. There will be a memorial service in Philadelphia at a later date, enabling her wonderful friends to pay their respects.

Donations in her name may be made to The Good People Fund (goodpeoplefund.org), the Hide and Seek Foundation to fight Niemann Pick disease (hideandseek.org), the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia (jewishphilly.org), or a charity of your choice.