Cathie Wishnick, 60; Treasured Local Activist

The Talmud legend says that there are 36 special people who sustain the entire world at all times. Cathie Wishnick was one of them, said Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben in praise of the longtime Kehillat Israel member and community volunteer who passed away Sunday, September 16 after a three-year battle with cancer. She was 60. Coincidentally, Wishnick died during the Jewish High Holidays, a time when every year she renewed her dedication to one of her most noteworthy outreach projects–feeding the hungry at the Turning Point shelter in Santa Monica. This was just one of the many volunteer activities for which she was honored in 2000 by the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation for her Tikkum Olam work at KI. An honorary resident of Pacific Palisades by virtue of her involvement in many of the town’s activities with her husband Arnie, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, Cathie was a familiar face and uplifting spirit to many. She was a doer whose leadership skills always included hands-on participation. When she volunteered for the Feed the Hungry program at Turning Point, she not only enlisted volunteers to help, but also planned the meals, tried them out on Arnie, and often, happily, ended up at the stove. Just as her love of cooking led to Turning Point, her ability to swing a hammer led to the Handi-Corps home repair task force. ‘I’m handy; I do fix-it work around the house,’ she told the Palisadian-Post in 2000, after she got the idea of starting a task force to assist older people with home repairs. ‘What stops most people from being handy is fear; they’re afraid to try,’ she said. ‘A single woman across the street called us at home. She said ‘Send Arnie over.’ I said, ‘No, you don’t want Arnie, I’ll be right there.” Cathie, the daughter of Franklin and Ethel Benson, grew up in Westwood, attended local public schools and graduated from UCLA in 1968. She was a member of Sinai Temple in Westwood, where she met Arnie at a special service for college students. ‘I met Cathie at the dreaded College Nite at Sinai, when parents drag their college-age kids to the service,’ Arnie later recalled. ‘Her parents dragged her, and my parents dragged me. I brought along my buddy, also named Arnie. Cathie always said that, at first, she liked the other Arnie better. He was more friendly.’ But Arnie Wishnick won out, and Cathie married him in August 1968. They lived in Santa Monica for five years before buying a home in Beverlywood. Arnie’s career as a banking executive brought him to the Palisades, first with Southern California Savings and then with Glendale Federal. He began his Chamber job in early 1993. Together and separately, Arnie and Cathie became an integral part of the Palisades community, generously offering their time and talents to the town’s major events, including the annual Teen Pageant and Fourth of July parade, and their temple on Sunset. In college Cathie was a runway model, a talent Arnie capitalized on by recruiting her to emcee events and perform skits on numerous occasions. One of their signature donations was a themed party in which lucky bidders were treated to a sit-down dinner and ‘dubious’ entertainment. Cathie would cook a gourmet meal for 15 to 20 guests. Arnie would come dressed as the perfect butler while she played the ‘Maid from Hell,’ attired in a torn housecoat, dangling an unlit cigarette and shocking with her face painted green after a presumed night of binge drinking. ‘She insulted all the guests,’ Arnie said, ‘but they loved her insults.’ Cathie also provided ‘color’ on the Fourth of July as one of the parade announcers, standing out in the middle of Sunset with her microphone and introducing the bands and floats as they passed by, while also interviewing celebrities and town leaders riding in convertibles. Although Cathie and Arnie did not have their own children, they were keenly interested in Palisades youth. Candida Piaggi remembers the years she and Cathie worked on the Chamber’s Teen Pageant. ‘I started working with Cathie in 1993 after my daughter, Allegra, won the Miss Palisades title,’ Piaggi told the Post. ‘Cathie was the co-emcee, and I always admired her for her grace, class and posture. She also came up with the famous question that the contestants always feared. It was often on a current-events topic, not very hard, but made the kids think on their feet.’ For 25 years, Cathie’s day job reflected her organization and administrative skills. She was an office administrator for several CPA firms. After retiring 10 years ago, she expanded her volunteer activities at KI and joined the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee, almost on the spur of the moment. ‘Although Cathie was already involved in many volunteer organizations at the time, she met a lady at a tea party,’ Arnie recalled. ‘The lady asked Cathie if she had time to take on one more organization. Shortly after that meeting, Cathie was introduced to Brandeis, and in a few years she was president of the L. A. chapter, which has a membership of 1,800 women. Cathie was honored last April 12 at Brandeis University’s Authors and Celebrities Day at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She looked radiant, and spoke brilliantly.’ When Cathie was diagnosed with cancer three years ago, her prognosis was dire, but one could say that her powerful, shining spirit not only brought an Indian summer of remission, but also buoyed her up during the bad times. In October 2005, Cathie and Arnie attended a Halloween party, in which she managed to integrate her condition. ‘ I went as FDR in my wheelchair, and Arnie was the lovely Eleanor,’ she told the Post. ‘For such a handsome man, Arnie makes a truly scary woman.’ ‘Cathie was funny and clever and loved being involved in other people’s lives,’ Rabbi Reuben said. ‘I felt privileged to have her as part of my congregation and community. She was a constant blessing to everybody.’ In addition to her husband Arnie, Cathie is survived by her sister-in-law Audrey Greenberg, her nephew Dr. Joshua Greenberg, and numerous relatives on her mother’s side, who all live in the East. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, September 30 at 1:30 p.m. at Kehillat Israel, 16019 Sunset. Donations in Cathie Wishnick’s name can be made to: Brandeis University’s National Women’s Committee, c/o Shirley Pollock, 8883 Collingwood Dr., Los Angeles 90069 (checks payable to BUNWC (Brandeis U. National Women’s Committee). And/or: The Cathie Wishnick Memorial Fund, c/o the American Cancer Society, 3333 Wilshire Blvd., L. A. 90010. Attention: Bette Bergsman (checks payable to the American Cancer Society/Cathie Wishnick Memorial).