Beatrice "Pookie" Novogrodsky

Beatrice “Pookie” Novogrodsky, entrepreneur, style icon, matriarch and local legend, passed away peacefully at home on July 18, 2025 surrounded by loved ones. She had just celebrated her 99th birthday.

Pookie was born on June 23, 1926, in the home of her parents, Sam and Birdie Kagan in Woodridge, New York. Few, though, with the possible exception of her mother and father, ever called her Beatrice. She was Pookie to all of us.

At 21, Pookie married the love of her life, John Novogrodsky, and they welcomed two daughters, Lauree and Jodi. They had 30 years together before she became a young widow at the age of 50. She never remarried.

A trailblazer at a time when few women worked outside of the home, Pookie was a creative and spirited entrepreneur with a keen instinct for seizing opportunity. Recognizing a need the Orthodox women visiting the area in the summer had, Pookie established an all-female cab company, filling a niche and earning a degree of fame in this specialized business, especially with her personalized Pookie N license plates.

During the height of the Catskills thriving resort era, Pookie was known as a fashion maven and style expert at the Concord Hotel’s Anne’s Boutique and La June. Her daughter Jodi, later opened Pretty Please Cosmetic Shop, where Pookie and Jodi helped ensure that the guests felt beautiful, glamorous, and ready for all the social events the storied resort had to offer.

Always impeccably dressed - and seldom without a bold splash of red, her signature color - Pookie also worked in the clothing boutiques across all the notable Borscht Belt hotels, guiding her clients to the perfect outfit or accessory with a warm, personal touch and, often, a wry comment.

If you needed a piece of fine jewelry, Pookie was the woman to know. She often traveled to New York City’s Diamond District, returning with glittering baubles that she sold out of her home and that are undoubtedly still treasured by her loyal customers. Her motto: “You can never own too much.”

And then there are Pookie’s nails, which never went unnoticed. She was, by many accounts, the first to wear her nails long and elaborately lacquered, and it’s believed she may have started the fashion nail craze.

Pookie was also an amazing home chef who lovingly preserved treasured culinary traditions, from chopped liver, ruggelach, brisket, to all the classics of Jewish family gatherings. Her cooking was the soul of every holiday - comforting, familiar, and so, so delicious - and we honestly don’t know what we’ll do without her at the table.

Beyond all this, though, there was Pookie’s fantastic sense of humor and a fast wit that was impossible to match. There was her courage, and how she always spoke her mind to correct an injustice. There was her gift of making others feel good about themselves and her ability to heal people emotionally, something she took great pride in. And there was her home, which was open to anyone and was filled with warmth, love, great food, and great fun.

Fiercely devoted to her family, Pookie leaves behind her daughters Lauree Novogrodsky and Jodi Goodman; son-in-law Alan; granddaughter Julie Kaufman and her husband Jared; grandson Jonathan (JR) Goodman and his partner Daniel O’Connor; and great-grandchildren Nolan and Ari Kaufman who were her greatest joys. She is also survived by her nieces and nephews Lisa and Sami Wiles, Dr. Brody Wiles and his fiance Jackie, Joseph Porcellini, Tracy Mountser and Dr. Michael Novogrodsky, and Amy Kagan Wolin. In addition to her loving husband, John, and parents Sam and Birdie, she was pre-deceased by her brothers, Nat and Harold Kagan. Also left to mourn are many, many people who became her chosen family - Colette, Paul, and Ashley Berger; Joan Collins; and so many others. She was very blessed with friends of all ages. A special thanks to Michelle, Louise, Wendy, and the Hospice nurses for taking such wonderful and loving care of Pookie in her final years.

Pookie was a member of the Woodridge Kiwanis, the Woodridge Planning Board, and served as the Woodridge Historian. She was the sole survivor of her Woodridge era of friends.

The world is a better place because of Pookie. To know even one life breathed easier because she lived is to know she truly succeeded while here.

It has been said that to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. This is true, and Pookie will live a very, very long time in the stories we tell and the love she gave so freely.

Services will be held at Colonial Memorial Funeral Home, 396 State Route 52, Woodbourne, N.Y. on Tuesday, July 22 at 11AM followed by burial at Workmans Circle #281 Cemetery in Glen Wild after the services. The family will be sitting Shiva daily from 12-2PM and 5-8PM beginning Tuesday evening at the Goodman’s residence until Friday afternoon.

Donations in Pookie’s honor can be made to Hospice of Orange & Sullivan 800 Stony Brook Court. Newburgh, NY 12550.

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