Irene Sherman Fiss

Irene Sherman Fiss, 88, passed away peacefully after a long illness on July 28, 2026.

Irene, the devoted and loving wife of Owen Fiss for more than 67 years, was born to the late Sol and Gertrude Isaacson Sherman on June 22, 1938 and grew up with her parents and sister, Laura Greenberg, in Brooklyn, NY.

After graduating from Boston University, Irene married Owen on September 6, 1959, and they began their life together in Oxford, England before returning to the United States two years later. After a few years in Cambridge, MA, they moved to Washington, DC where their two eldest daughters, Caitlin Fiss Goldsmith (Scott Goldsmith) and the late Emily Fiss Palumbo were born.

After moving to Chicago, IL in 1969, they had a third daughter, Gina Rubenfeld Fiss (Joshua Rubenfeld), and then finally settled in the New Haven area where they embraced the Yale Law School community, Edgehill Road neighborhood, North Lake community, and city as home for more than 50 years.

Irene made a long and lasting impact on the community, as a friend, as a political activist, a volunteer for the Hamden library, and professionally. A gifted teacher and school principal, Irene is most remembered for her role in growing what was once a small neighborhood cooperative nursery school into a K-8 school steeped in the progressive tradition called the Cold Spring School.

Irene was an avid reader, she loved to discuss politics, and travel the world with Owen. Irene was also the proud and loving grandmother to Nic Palumbo, Aidan and Lucy Goldsmith, and Ezra and Sophie Rubenfeld.

Friends are invited to join her family for a Funeral Service on Friday, July 31st at 1:00 p.m. in the Yale University’s Sudler Hall, 470 College Street, New Haven, with burial following in Grove Street Cemetery. Beecher & Bennett Funeral Home, Hamden in care of arrangements. The family has established a scholarship fund in her honor at the Cold Spring School, 263 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT 06513 for those wishing to make a donation in honor of Irene’s memory. To send a condolence to her family please see obituary at www.beecherandbennett.com