Dr. Marie Midler Gross

Dr. Marie Midler Gross of Columbia, South Carolina died peacefully on January 21, 2021. Born in Warsaw Poland on June 27, 1928 she was the daughter of the late Eugenia and Michal Midler. Marie was a young teenager living in Pabianice, Poland when the Germans invaded Poland. Her father Michal was a Captain in the Polish Army and was killed in the Katyn Forest massacre. Marie, her mother Eugenia, and her sister Halena were placed in the Warsaw Ghetto when Marie was age 12. As Jews were being selected for deportation Eugenia, worried about her daughters, uses the gold coins she had smuggled in her coat buttons to obtain new identities for each of them. Posing as Gentiles they escaped the Warsaw Ghetto. Making their way to Berlin, Germany they worked in a factory and lived in barracks under assumed names, right under the German’s nose, until the Russians liberated them in April 1945. They travel back to Pabianice in a cattle car and find their home occupied. Unable to stay in their homeland they return to Germany and settle into a Displaced Persons (DP) Camp in Foehrenwald, Germany near Munich. By this time Marie was age 17 and never attended high school. An opportunity developed for her to enroll in the dental school at Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich where she met Arthur Gross, also a dental student. Marie was married in a Jewish ceremony in Munich in 1949. Marie and Arthur then emigrate to the United States in 1952 settling in Brooklyn, New York reunited and now living with Eugenia, Halina and husband Frank Ruttner in the same house. Her son Jeffrey was born in New York. When Arthur joined the US Army he was transferred back to Munich, Germany and Marie decided to enter medical school at the same university. While there, her son Brian was born. Graduating with honors with each degree, Marie, now equipped with both a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) became board certified in both adult and child psychiatry and worked both in a municipal setting and a private practice. Marie became a “snow bird” living between the Catskills Mountains of New York and in Florida. She moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 2004 to live with her son Jeffrey, daughter-in-law Kay Gross and grandchildren Amy and Joel Gross. Marie was a remarkable, tenacious and determined woman. She was very independent and she became successful during a time when women rarely held professional positions. It is remarkable that she was able to survive the holocaust, achieve professional degrees, and raise a family. She spoke four languages, Polish, German, English and French. She is survived by her son Dr. Jeffrey Gross and daughter-in-law Kay Gross of Columbia, SC, son Brian Gross of Bethesda, MD, grandchildren Amy Gross of Charlotte, NC and Joel Gross of Columbia, SC, and sister Helena Ruttner of Tamarac, Florida. The graveside service for Dr. Marie Gross will be held at 1:30 PM, Friday, January 22, 2021, at Beth Shalom Arcadia Lakes Cemetery, 1401 Arcadia Lakes, Columbia. Friends and family are encouraged to attend virtually by visiting the livestream of the service on her tribute page at ShivesFuneralHome.com. Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, is assisting the family. Donations may be made to Chabad Lubavitch of SC; Beth Shalom Synagogue, or to Columbia Holocaust Education Commission.

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Dr. Marie Midler Gross

June 27, 1928 - January 21, 2021