Opening Remarks by Jodie Evans

Max Palevsky Memorial Service

Friday, May 7, 2010

Thank you so much for coming to share this celebration of Max with us.

The funeral yesterday was delivered beautifully by Rabbi Herb Freed, the same man who married us. It was just the close family and balm for many of our hearts.

The family is here, his oldest son Nick from Thailand; Madeleine Moskowitz with her amazing husband Jeff and their children, Penelope, Jimmy and Sonny, who brought so much joy to Max; Sasha and his wife Alison who have the newest grandchild, Miles, who was known to giggle when visiting Papa Max; Jonathan and his fiance Lindsay May; Matthew, our son who just turned 25; my son Jasiu Krajewski who Max adopted as his own many years ago; and Max’s sister Helen Futterman, the matriarch of the Palevsky family, most of whom have joined us today.

Most important to Max were his family and friends. They were his joy and the nourishment to his heart and soul. You are going to hear from three of his closest friends whose connections to Max go back 40 years or more.

Max loved to read. He was an intellectual who did not live it out in the University, but rather lived it out in his curious probing mind—it needed to be something special to pull him out of the house during the day, his reading time. One of those special and ritual events was lunch with Stanley Sheinbaum and Norman Lear—a group fondly known as the Malibu Mafia. He was in awe of Norman and how he could take his passions and concerns (which Max shared) and create the project necessary to affect change. When he spoke of Norman, it was with an effusion of love and deepest respect.