Shirley Belkov Lipman

by | Jun 7, 2019 | Obituaries

Virginia Beach—Shirley Belkov Lipman, a secretary to two rabbis who, with her late husband, founded an art materials and picture framing store in Maryland, died Tuesday, June 4, in Virginia Beach after suffering a stroke. She was 95.

Born Shirley Belkov in Miami, she was the third daughter and sixth child of Ukrainian immigrants who had moved to Florida from Phoebus for the health of an older son. The family moved back to Norfolk after the hurricane of 1926 and Miss Belkov attended Blair Junior High School in Norfolk, where she was a reporter on the student newspaper. Her future husband, Edgar Lipman, also worked on the paper as its business manager, although the two claimed they did not meet then. At 15, Miss Belkov moved to Washington, DC with her family and graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1941. During a visit to Norfolk, she met Edgar Lipman, then a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI). During World War II, she worked as a secretary for the federal government and was a volunteer nurse’s aide.

She and Mr. Lipman married on Oct. 27, 1946. In the early 1950s, she did occasional modeling and came in second in the Mrs. Washington, DC beauty pageant. That led to a walk-on appearance as an extra in the movie A Man Called Peter, based on the life of former U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall. Mrs. Lipman was the secretary to two rabbis: Rabbi David Panitz of Adas Israel In Washington DC, (father of Rabbi Michael Panitz of Temple Israel, Norfolk) and Rabbi Louis Weintraub of Temple Israel in Silver Spring, Md.

In 1957, the couple opened The Art Shop & Gallery—later renamed Lipman’s Art Shop­—in Silver Spring, Md., which she owned until shortly after the death of her husband in 1983. Active in Jewish organizations, Mrs. Lipman was a life member of Hadassah and B’nai B’rith Women and was president of the Free State chapter of B’nai B’rith Women in Silver Spring, 1967-68. She taught Sunday school at Temple Israel, Silver Spring, and both Israeli and international folk dancing at a summer camp near Thurmont, Md. Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Lipman moved to South Florida for several years, but returned to Norfolk in about 2000.

She was a member of Temple Israel, Norfolk. At the time of her death, she was a resident of Beth Sholom Village in Virginia Beach.

Mrs. Lipman is survived by two sons, Larry Lipman, of Falls Church, Va., and Eli Liron of Rishon LeTzion, Israel; a brother, Erwin Belkov of Warrenton, Va., four grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

A graveside service was held at King David Memorial Gardens, Falls Church, Va. The family requests contributions to either Beth Sholom Village, Virginia Beach, or Temple Israel, Norfolk. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.hdoliver.com.