Beatrice was born on August 6, 1915, to Hannah and Morris Brustein on a farm in the Catskills Mountains of New York. She had three brothers, Izzy, Leo, and Maxy. She had many wonderful stories about growing up on the farm, among them attending a one room school house. It was a working farm but also a kokhaleyn servicing families escaping from the NYC heat in the summer and hunters in the fall. Among the families who stayed with the Brusteins were the Zweifachs. One of those many summers Ben, the eldest of the Zweifach boys,became aware of Bea's burgeoning beauty, both inside and out. He recognized her to be " the real article ", as he described at their 50 th wedding anniversary celebration. But before marriage Beatrice graduated from Liberty High School, and Hunter College in New York City. She settled in Brooklyn with Ben and raised her three children, Paula, Marilyn and Mark, while Ben advanced the field of Microcirculation in his research at NYU. Her home was always filled with family and friends.
In 1960 they moved to Nyack, New York and in 1966 they moved to La Jolla, California, where Ben helped found the Department of Bioengineering at UCSD, and Bea devoted herself to both the Jewish Community through her work with Hadassah, and the Temple Sisterhood, and the academic community, through her work with the Oceanids. Beatrice served as both President and car driver. No task was too great or too small. She was also a devoted grandmother to Cyrus, Daniel and Abigail. She was always a devoted daughter-in-law, sister, cousin,aunt, and friend, and more recently the great grandmother of Max and Will.
Beatrice was able to be celebrated on her 100 th Birthday on August 6 th. All of the love she received was a reflection of all the love service and kindness she gave throughout her life. She continued to be a blessing to us all until her last breath. May she be in peace, and may we merit what we have received from her.