Mariko Hirsch

Mariko Hirsch left this world peacefully on February 7, 2025 at the age of 95. She was born on August 9, 1929 in Chanchum, Manchuria, China and spent the early part of her life in Odawara, Japan. Mariko is survived by her son, Barron Hirsch, and his family, and her granddaughter, Jerusha Jaeger. Her sisters, Ruriko Scarborough and Noriko Nakahara, and their families also survive her.

Mariko was an indomitable spirit with energy to spare. She left Japan to marry Robert F. Hirsch and live out most of her married years in Bronxville, NY. She was a seamstress and had a gift with plants and oil paintings which filled every corner of her solarium. And she loved to play tennis. She played tennis well into her 80's when fragile bones finally stopped her.

Mariko's transition into dementia was done with a playful awareness that she was forgetting things and going "back to a child state". She was a force of nature and even with dementia would get into all sorts of mischief. She spent her last year in the care of her granddaughter, surrounded by animals and the comforts of home. Her spirit was so strong that she was dancing and singing nearly until the day she died. May we all be so fortunate.

Her family will honor her life privately. She will be buried next to her husband in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY.

Mariko was recently preceded in death by her son Glenn Hirsch and prior by her husband Robert Hirsch and sister Meriko Nakahara.