Hazel Steiner Polsky, wife of the owner of one of the largest retail stores in Akron, Ohio, left her own mark on the city through her civic and benevolent activities.
Hazel Steiner was born in Sterling, Ohio, in 1882, the daughter of Elizabeth and Noah R. Steiner. She was educated in a convent school near Cincinnati. In 1899, she and her family moved to Akron. Her father, a real estate developer, was responsible for the development of much of the Kenmore (Ohio) area.
She met Bert A. Polsky, son of an Akron retailer, at a fraternity party and they soon married.
Hazel Polsky never worked outside the home. Both she and her husband, who ran the department store that carried his name, were active in civic organizations. She, especially, got involved with the hospitals in the city. Polsky served as president of the Women’s Auxiliary and a board member of Akron City Hospital (now Summa Health System). She also was active in the Mary Day Nursery and Children’s Hospital, serving as vice president. She was also associated with Women’s City Club, the Art and History Club as well as the Akron section of the National Council of Jewish Women. She attended Temple Israel.
At her death in October 1964, the Beacon Journalremembered her as a “woman whose grace of manner, whose devotion to husband and children and whose service to the community made her beloved by all who had the good fortune to know her.”
Photo courtesy of the Beacon Journal.
–Kathleen L. Endres