Obituary
Gina P. Freed, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, and nurse passed away on January 22, 2022 (her 78th birthday) after a difficult, year-long battle with leukemia. She was a lifelong “super nurse”, nursing professor, charity volunteer, cook, painter, artist, lover of animals and plants, health advocate, and enthusiast of travel, music and theater. Her passing leaves a massive and seemingly insurmountable hole in many lives. She will be dearly missed and mourned by friends and family alike.
Gina was born in Brooklyn, NY, to parents Henrietta and Isaac, and moved to Laurelton in Queens at an early age with her younger sister, Julie. Gina attended Hunter College where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing at age 20. There she met the love of her life, Karl Freed. They married shortly after graduation and moved to Chicago, where Karl took a position as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. They raised two daughters, Michele and Nicole, while Gina worked as a visiting nurse. She later went back to school for a master’s degree in public health nursing, graduating in 1977, and worked diligently afterwards as a visiting nurse, a nursing professor, and finally as a geriatric nurse practitioner at the Memory Center at the University of Chicago before retiring (very reluctantly) at age 70. She was a passionate health advocate for friends and family and a highly skilled diagnostician, oftentimes diagnosing family and friends’ health problems before their own doctors were able. She volunteered for fourteen years at the Ronald McDonald House in Hyde Park, was a fervent supporter of their cause, and considered the people there part of her extended family. Finally, a piece of her heart will always live on in the memory of the three cats she lovingly mothered: Isosceles, Cleo and Kaboodle.
Gina is survived by her husband of 57 years, Karl Freed, her loving daughter, Michele Freed, her dear sister, Julie Berkey and her pride and joy, her granddaughter, Cambria Chou-Freed.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Ronald McDonald House Charities, 1301 W. 22nd Street, Suite 905, Oak Brook, IL 60523, www.rmhccni.org/donate. To keep everyone safe and healthy, the funeral service will be private. To attend the funeral live stream, please visit our website. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com.
Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals. www.chicagojewishfunerals.com