LI Town Mourns Former Neighbor Recovered After Condo Collapse

Southampton NY

11 July, 2021

8:42 PM

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SOUTHAMPTON, NY — After days of searching, the body of a former Southampton woman was recovered Friday at the site of the 12-story condo collapse in Surfside, FL, her family said. A post on the Facebook page of Dr. Josh Spiegel, the son of Judy Spiegel, conveyed the heartbreaking news: "Today was one of the hardest days of our lives. We were told by the Miami Dade Police Department that our mom, Judy Spiegel, was recovered on Friday, July 9, 2021. While this was the absolute worst news in the world, we are happy that we have been reunited. We thank all the first responders, including the IDF team, for all their hard work," he wrote. "The intense rollercoaster of emotions that we have experienced over the past 18 days has been indescribable. We truly appreciate all of our family and friends for being by our side, rooting us on, and praying that we be reunited with our mom. We hope our mom is looking down on us with pride, knowing we fought our hardest to find her," he wrote. "We are so proud to be her kids and we will pass on all the amazing lessons she taught us. Her spirit will continue to live on in all of us," the note, signed by Judy's children Rachel, Michael, and Josh, said. Kevin Spiegel and his wife Judy lived in the Champlain Towers South Condo, located at 8777 Collins Ave., which collapsed. In the past days, her children created, with Temple Beth AM, a donation page, the "Judy Spiegel Family Support Fund." "With the help of our shul, we have created a fund to support our father, Kevin, all of our siblings, and continue Judy's philanthropic efforts for two causes for which she was passionate. As we continue to search for meaning in this catastrophe, we must also look to the future and rebuild," they wrote. "As a family, we will need counseling to make sense of this unfathomable time, and we will need to support our father in rebuilding his life. Our mom Judy was the glue that kept our family together." All of the family mementos, photos, clothing, and heirlooms their parents collected over the past 65 years were "lost in a matter of seconds" when the Champlain Towers South building collapsed, the page said. "The fund will first be used to help reconstruct any semblance of normality by replacing the items lost in this horrific event. The fund also will be used to support two organizations for which Judy cared so deeply. She often traveled with her incredible friend, June Scobee Rodgers, to support her in presentations and award acceptances for her now 35-plus years of work with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, created in tribute to her deceased husband, Commander Scobee, and the crew of the Challenger Space Shuttle." In addition, Judy's children wrote: "Our mother also was extremely close with Eva Schloss, an Austrian-English Holocaust survivor who has authored several books and speaks around the world to spread awareness of her family's experiences during the Holocaust. After the war, Otto Frank, father of famed diarist Anne Frank, married Eva's mother. Our mom traveled all over the world to see and support Eva, and it is our goal to continue supporting her and spreading Holocaust awareness in the way our mother did." They added: "We thank our entire community for the outpouring of love, support, and hope during this unimaginable event." Former colleagues and friends were devastated to learn that Judy Spiegel remained missing after the condo collapse; Kevin was in California on a business trip. After the news, he and the couple's grown children Rachel, Josh, and Michael Spiegel, rushed to the site. And in Southampton, friends and former colleagues sent words of sympathy after hearing the news. "Sending my deepest, heartfelt, condolences to the Spiegel family on the loss of their mother and wife. May Judy rest in peace and may her memory be a blessing," said Robert Ross, who, when he served as Southampton Town Deputy Supervisor in past years, met Kevin Spiegel, then executive vice president of Southampton Hospital. "Kevin was also a volunteer with one of our local ambulance corps," Ross wrote on Facebook after Judy was initially reported missing. "Several of his children went to the Southampton Public Schools. As fate would have it, in 2008 I joined Southampton Hospital. Kevin had already moved on by the time I started to work there. I spoke with him once or twice over these many years." Ross added: "I'm asking Kevin's friends in Southampton and his former colleagues at the hospital to join in praying for Judy and the other victims of this horrific tragedy." In the days since the collapse, Judy's family spoke lovingly of their wife and mother, who touched so many lives. "My mom is just the best person in the world, so caring and loving, she just loves my kids," Rachel told CNN. News4jax.com reported that Judy was known as a philanthropist who fundraised for a children's hospital and other causes to help children in need. "Praying," one friend wrote on Facebook. "This is a horrific tragedy," another wrote. "Such a nice family," friend Mary Ellen Schaefer added. "My daughters went to school with his children at Southampton schools. I'm so sad."