Susan Lemak

The world lost a very special one when Susan Marie Lemak's body succumbed to cancer and she died at age 67 in Brooklyn, NY on February 3, 2020. Susan was born on May 23, 1952 in Bridgeport, CT,  and lived in Brooklyn for the last 30 years of her life.

Susan was a psychotherapist and ordained minister in private practice in New York. She joined the faculty of the Helix Training Program for Psychotherapy and Healing in 1985, having graduated from their training program in 1983.

She continued her training at the Center for Intentional Living, and at Somatic Experiencing International, where she graduated and became a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in 2007. Previously, she had been a management consultant, at the Jacob Perlow Hospice at Beth Israel Hospital in NYC from 1991-2000, as well as with the Group for Advanced Management Training from 1985-1987.

Susan was a magical, mysterious creature, she was beautiful and sexy, full of both depth and light, and seductively charmed just about everybody she encountered. She married Lawrence Brickman in 1985, and was the proud mother of Caroline Lemak Brickman, born in 1990.

Vatican II ended Susan's career as a Catholic. It was the frankincense, the Latin, and the mystery, that resonated with her nascent spirituality. From then on, she was pantheistic, and while loving the differences between gods, she also believed that all gods were one.

An avid life-long reader, Susan was also a dedicated yogi for the last decades of her life, and was gifted with a remarkable talent for creating characters and alter egos, and regaling children (and her husband) with their exploits. Giorgio the little dog, The Model and Guy, all live in our hearts, but perhaps Susan's most memorable character is Grace Devi (AKA the tooth fairy), who carried on a long correspondence with notes under Caroline's pillow throughout Caroline's tooth-losing years.

The youngest daughter of Steve and Marjorie Lemak, Susan lived in many locations while growing up, including London, Newfoundland, Kansas, California, and Virginia. She was well-traveled, including spending extended time in India and in Florence, Italy. Italy was her favorite travel destination; she was fond of saying that she was Italian in "mio cuore." 

If there is a heaven, Susan is there. And if Susan is in her heaven, she is eating fresh briny raw clams on the half shell, accompanied by a minerally white Chablis or Albarino.

Susan was memorialized by the indie pop trio BETTY in this short piece: https://youtu.be/5EL1mumpC6U

Susan is survived and lives on in the hearts of those who had the privilege of being graced with her presence: her daughter Caroline Lemak Brickman, her husband Lawrence Brickman, her sisters Dianne Pons and Marjorie Jackson, her many brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and innumerable friends, clients, and colleagues.