Marilyn Schwartz Axler, 66; volunteer against polio and hunger
Marilyn Schwartz Axler, 66, of Cherry Hill, a former Garden State Rotary Club volunteer manager, died of complications from lung cancer Monday, Oct. 10, at Virtua Voorhees Hospital.
Marilyn Schwartz Axler, 66, of Cherry Hill, a former Garden State Rotary Club volunteer manager, died of complications from lung cancer Monday, Oct. 10, at Virtua Voorhees Hospital.
Born in the Bronx, Mrs. Axler graduated from Mount Vernon (N.Y.) High School in 1968 and studied psychology at George Washington University in Washington.
She was vice president of CMI-Direct, an advertising firm in Cherry Hill, which her husband, Marvin, founded in 1972 and for which he is president.
"We compile mailing lists, design, and produce" materials that the firm mails for "hospitals, universities, manufacturers, and retailers," Marvin Axler said of CMI-Direct.
But, he said, his wife's "true passion was her service to others through her work with the Rotary Club."
Since the mid-2000s, she was a member of the Cherry Hill chapter of the Garden State Rotary Club.
In 2011, her husband said, she was among volunteers from several Rotary International clubs who traveled to northern India to help World Health Organization staff inoculate children against polio.
She was secretary of the South Jersey Rotary E-Club, which, her husband said, offers members the opportunity to hold meetings online, when it is difficult for them to meet in person.
In July, she ended a two-year term as public relations chair for Rotary District 7640, which covers several South Jersey counties.
And she helped plan for the Rotary Strike Out Hunger Night, which this year took place in an August Phillies game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Her husband, who has headed the event for the last 10 years, said that "for every ticket I sell" to Rotary clubs in the Delaware Valley, "the Phillies will donate a portion to the Rotary Foundation" to combat polio worldwide.
Debbie Fox, office manager for CMI-Direct, said that over the last 25 years Mrs. Axler "was like a sister to me. Vibrant, vivacious."
In 1984, Mrs. Axler cofounded the South Jersey Postal Customer Council and was its cochair in the 1980s, her husband said, so businesses could keep abreast of changing postal policies.
Mrs. Axler completed the master gardener program at Rutgers-Camden in 2014, in order to work with community gardeners as a volunteer for the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association.
And she was a member of the Cherry Hill Business Alliance.
Besides her husband of 45 years, Mrs. Axler is survived by son Ben and two brothers.
A visitation was set from 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at Platt Memorial Chapels, 2001 Berlin Rd., Cherry Hill, before an 11 a.m. memorial service there, with burial in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y.
Donations may be sent to the PolioPlus Fund, Rotary Foundation, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Ill. 60201.
Condolences may be offered to the family at plattmemorial.com.
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