Sylvia Flax Cartsonis, 89, died on January 3, 2020. Sylvia was born in the Bronx, New York to   Jewish immigrants who fled persecution and starvation in Eastern Europe. Her childhood was marked by WWII. She and her father served as volunteer Plane Spotters in the Ground Observer Corps, trained by the Army Air Forces. They visually searched the skies for German aircraft attempting to penetrate American airspace. The horrific direct impact of the Holocaust included the murder of her father's entire family in 1941. In 1948 Sylvia won an American Legion medal at her high school graduation for the highest grade in American History. In July of that summer she represented New Jersey Famers at the Founding Convention of the Progressive Party's New Youth Organization, which marked the beginning of Sylvia's lifelong commitment to social activism. Sylvia completed a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1952 from the  University of Michigan.  At Michigan, Sylvia met Mike Cartsonis, a Greek-American architecture student. The couple marries and settled in Philadelphia where both completed graduate school: Sylvia, at Bryn Mawr's Graduate School of Social Work, and Mike, in City Planning at the University of Pennsylvania. Both graduated in 1956. When they moved from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Sylvia became a leading force in the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, and the Democratic Party. In 1964 the family relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona, where Sylvia took a job in South Phoenix at The Leadership and Education for the Advancement of Phoenix (LEAP) in 1966. In 1968, the family moved to Litchfield Park and later to Ontario, Canada from 1971-1973, where Sylvia taught at Wilfred Laurier University and her husband, Mike, taught at University of Waterloo. They returned to Arizona because the political situation in the United States had improved after the War in Vietnam ended, and because they missed Litchfield Park. Sylvia taught at the Graduate School of Social Work at ASU from 1973 to 1980. As Assistant Professor and Director of Field Research, she supervised graduate students who provided social services to Native Americans on reservations in southern Arizona.  In 1980, she accepted a senior caseworker position with Jewish Family Services and remained there until 1987. Sylvia served as Executive Director of the Sun City Community Council, from 1987 until her retirement. She was innovative in addressing issues of an aging community including elder abuse prevention, independent living, and isolation. The "Wake Up, Tuck In Program" and free lunches for seniors called "Happy Nooners" were a few of the programs she launched. Sylvia was a Board member of the Area Agency on Aging for over 30 years. During her tenure, she developed a model for protecting against fiduciary elder abuse, using a board of retired professionals to review how monies were spent in conservatorships for the elderly. This model was presented at a national conference and adopted by other cities across the country. In 1999, the Area Agency on Aging awarded Sylvia a Lifetime Achievement Award for her service to the community. Sylvia is preceded in death by her husband, Mike, and a sister. She is survived by five children and seven grandchildren. A memorial will be held on Saturday, February 29 at the Wigwam Country Club at 2:00 PM in the Pueblo Room. If you would like to attend, RSVP to ecartsonis@yahoo.com . (Source: Arizona Republic)