Iras Schorsch Stern | Artist, writer, 102

Iras Goldstein Schorsch Stern, 102, of Jenkintown, an artist who published detective stories, died Saturday at home.

Mrs. Stern grew up in Center City and attended Friends Select School in Philadelphia and Mount Ida School in Newton, Mass. She graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her oil landscapes were exhibited at the Academy, at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, and at the Art Institute of Manayunk. She continued to paint until 10 years ago, her son Irvin G. Schorsch Jr. said.

She enjoyed writing detective stories, several of which were published in magazines, her son said.

Before moving to Jenkintown four years ago, Mrs. Stern was a longtime resident of the Shawmont section of Philadelphia and spent winters in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

She was chairwoman of the board of Arlington Cemetery Co. in Drexel Hill.

As a young woman, she married Irvin G. Schorsch Sr., and the couple had two sons. They later divorced. For 33 years she was married to Maurice Stern, until his death in 1980.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Stern is survived by a son, John Schorsch; eight grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

A service of remembrance will be at 2 p.m. today at Toppitzer Funeral Home at Arlington Cemetery, 2900 State Rd., Drexel Hill. Interment will be in the cemetery's Warfield Mausoleum.