Maxine Kavanda (nee Silver), longtime resident of Bronxville, New York, and most recently Ossining, New York, passed away peacefully on April 2, 2025. She was 80.
Born June 25, 1944, she was proud to have been born and raised in the Bronx. She told fond stories of her childhood: playing and attending programs in Crotona Park, walking to the Bronx Zoo, and summers teaching herself to swim at Orchard Beach.
Maxine graduated from Roosevelt High School in the Bronx in 1962. She began her professional career first as a CO-OP student with Metropolitan Life in Manhattan, transitioning to full-time working with key punch (the predecessor to today’s computer systems), becoming manager of the department.
After taking a short break to have her children, Max started her long career with IBM, starting in the publishing department, graduating from Mercy College, becoming a department manager and ending her career with the facilities space planning department, where she was instrumental in moving IBM out of leased properties into owned properties.
After retiring from IBM after 25 years, she started her next chapter as the director of human resources at the Tarrytown Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, where she would retire after 23 years.
A fiercely strong woman, she raised her children during a time when single motherhood was not an acceptable norm. Living in the Bronx, she would take many bus trips with the kids to Jones Beach. After moving to Bronxville in 1977, those beach trips continued almost every weekend. Max loved the ocean! Every summer for the last 50 years has been spent at the beach in Cape May, New Jersey.
Maxine enjoyed traveling with her family and friends, especially on cruises! Memories were made traveling to both coasts of the U.S.; Max having the opportunity to visit both Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida with her children and grandchildren.
Maxine is survived by the loves of her life: her children, Dawn and Timothy Etta and Frank and Christina Kavanda; and grandchildren: Morgan Etta, William Etta, Emma Kavanda and Eleanore Kavanda.
She will be missed immensely by her many lifelong friends, especially Marvin and Susan Raskin, and their children Alexandra and Cara. She will always be Auntie Max!
Family and friends may attend calling hours on Monday, April 7, 2025, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Clinton Funeral Home, 21 Parrott St., Cold Spring, NY 10516. A graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at the Cold Spring Cemetery, Peekskill Road, Cold Spring, NY 10516.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Maxine Kavanda’s name to support Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Checks, made payable to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, should be mailed to: Attn: Community Fundraising, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Office of Development, P.O. Box Box 27106, New York, NY 10087. Please indicate on the check memo line that the gift is in memory of Maxine Kavanda.
