Fatal accident takes life of charming faculty member

By: Ana Sanchez / BBC Editor
Student’s who walked past Biscayne Bay Campus’ Center On Aging would often find 86-year-old Pearl Ferber sitting at her computer typing away.

She still walked up the stairs in Academic One every day and took walks every morning while listening to country music on her headphones. She always wore matching jewelry and with a coquettish smile she would boast, “I still have all my teeth.”

On the morning of Jan. 31, Ferber’s husband was driving her to work when an SUV drove into the passenger’s side of the vehicle on the corner of Northeast 151 St., at the entrance to BBC.

Ferber was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital where she passed away. Her husband was injured in the accident but survived.

As of press time and despite several phone calls, The Beacon was unable to reach the North Miami Police department in regards to the accident.

Coworkers were shattered when they heard the news.

“This morning I had to go by her desk and I walked all the way around. I couldn’t bare it. Every day I would pass by and I’d say ‘Hey young lady’ and she would laugh. I’m going to miss that,” said close friend Evelyn Cawley, program pssistant for GEARUP Programs in the College of Education.

Ferber worked at FIU for 21 years as a secretary. Born in Milledgeville, Ga., Ferber was raised in Atlanta and then moved to New York where she worked as a secretary for an insurance company.

She married and had two children. She also has one grandson.

“You could always depend on Pearl. She had such a good sense of humor and was fun to talk to,” said Ann Goraczko, associate director for the Institute for Public Opinion Research/Journalism and Mass Communications.

A loyal member of the Democratic Party and an admirer of President Bill Clinton, Ferber was active in a community organization in Concerned Citizens, a community service organization in Sunny Isles Beach.

“At one of the Concerned Citizens meetings the commissioner asked, `Mrs. Ferber when are you going to retire?` and her response was, `When you retire, then I will retire,'” Cawley said.

Ferber’s coworker’s described her as a consumate professional who was always willing to learn new things.

“She never came in late. She never called in sick. Last week she worked an hour more so she could attend a luncheon this week,” Cawley said. “It was difficult for her to learn Panthersoft but she did it; no complaints and always working with a smile.”

Ferber was very sociable. She still kept in touch will her grade school friends and dined at the Sweet Tomato on weekends. She was fond of traveling and planned trips every year. On Fridays, she attended Tai Chi class.

For her 86th birthday, her coworkers organized a birthday party where Vice Provost Raul Moncarz gave Ferber an award for her demonstration of excellence in the work place.

“She was always thinking of other people. She represented what the university is: service, understanding and always having a good disposition toward the present and the future,” Moncarz said.

Services were held at Levitt Weinstein Funeral home in Miami Beach on Feb. 2.

“She was one of those rare people who enriched all of our lives by just knowing her,” said Betty Ryan, an administrative assistant.

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