Sybil Kahn, 100, of Kansas City, Missouri, died on May 5, 2023.
The funeral was on May 9.
Sybil Kahn was born in Bay City, Michigan, on Aug. 17, 1922, to George and Mary Kahn, who owned a dry goods store in nearby Auburn, Michigan, where Sybil grew up. Sybil was a precocious student, graduated high school in Bay City, Michigan, and went to Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she earned degrees in fashion, art and design. In Columbia, Sybil met her future husband, Norman Kahn. Sybil then attended design school in Chicago before enrolling at the University of Michigan. Sybil lived at the Hillel House on the university campus where she was elected student director. There, she re-encountered Norman, who was stationed nearby with the Army Air Corps. On Nov. 23, 1944, Sybil and Norman were married. They moved to Seattle, Washington, where Sybil worked with the American Red Cross, which ignited her interest in becoming a social worker. She also worked for the Seattle Anti-Defamation League and the Seattle Jewish Federation.
After the war, the Kahns moved to Kansas City. Sybil received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1947 and her Masters in Social Work, focusing on community planning and psychiatric social work, from the University of Kansas in 1954. Sybil initially applied her social work therapy skills to special needs children, working at the University of Kansas Medical Center and Jewish Family Services. She later had a private practice in family therapy and became certified in transactional analysis, Gestalt therapy and group therapy. She was a co-founder of Matrix, an innovative and highly effective group therapy program. Sybil was a consultant for the Johnson County Association for Retarded Citizens, the Menorah Institutional Review Committee and the Council of Jewish Women. Sybil chaired the Jewish Family Network. She was director of the American Field Service international student exchange program in Kansas City.
Sybil was active in the arts throughout her life. She established Private Stock Gallery in Westport, where she helped launch the careers of many young artists. She subsequently founded the Kansas City Museum Without Walls to bring art into the community. A notable exhibit displayed Art Spiegelman’s cartoons from his 1972 Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus,” depicting the Holocaust experiences of Spiegelman’s father. Sybil also founded the Greater Kansas City Jewish Community Archives which currently houses, among other treasures, videotaped interviews of historical figures in the Kansas City garment industry, which was critical for employment of many Jewish immigrants in America.
Sybil served on the acquisition committee and the board of the Jewish Museum in New York City, where she promoted the resurgence of Judaica. Sybil and Norman founded the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom, and Sybil was an active advisor for that gallery’s director. Sybil and a colleague led the successful campaign for “1% for Art,” an ordinance that requires that construction or remodeling of municipal buildings in Kansas City include 1% of the cost for art acquisition and installation.
While the community considered Sybil a skilled therapist, advocate for the arts and for young artists, visionary, community leader, and contributor to Jewish and community causes, her family and friends remember her as an inspirational, creative “force” with the highest standards who helped others exceed their own expectations. She taught her family tzedakah. Sybil was a lifelong member of Congregation Beth Shalom, and for many years also a member of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, Congregation Ohev Shalom and Kehilath Israel Synagogue. Sybil will also be remembered for her amazing ability to give parties, including Norman’s 60th birthday party, a catered black tie affair with a live orchestra, held in his steel warehouse in Kansas City, Kansas, with a shimmering mylar “light sculpture” by the renowned local artist Dale Eldred on the exterior wall.
Sybil was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Sherman Kahn. She is survived by her son Norman Kahn Jr. (Diana) of Prairie Village, Kansas; Fred Kahn (Sherri) of Bucyrus, Kansas; and Ted Kahn (Anette) of Steamboat Springs, Colorado; daughter Barbara Kahn of Cambridge, Massachusetts; eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
The family would like to thank her caregivers at the end of her life, including Barb De Jong, Rose Mahurin, Marli Murphy, Irma Pierce, Georgia Pruden and Cari Seahorn. We are grateful for the fine care provided by Village Shalom and by Crossroads Hospice.
Instead of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Sybil Kahn Legacy Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation.
