Jo Ginzberg Farkas

Actor Josanne "Jo" Farkas passed away after a long illness on May 28, 2023, just weeks after her 96th birthday surrounded by family and friends. Born on May 1, 1927, in Boston and raised in Newton Center, MA, Jo married three times, and resided in Newton, MA ('til 1965), York, PA ('til 1969).Baltimore, MD ('til 1986) and Studio City, CA, until her death. She became an actor at age 65, fulfilling a childhood dream and prior to that worked as a school psychologist in the Baltimore City Schools. Jo was the beloved mother of three children including son Dr. Jonathan H. Burroughs (married to Anita, children Serena and Seth and grandchildren Aristides and Nikoletta), noted psychic, entertainer, and writer Cathy Hannah Burroughs and licensed clinical social worker Suzanne Farkas (married to Scott Stevenson, children Miles and Quinn). Also survived by her are her loved sister Louise Hirshberg, Louise's children Gary, Susan and Nancy and many devoted friends whom she loved dearly. She is predeceased by her parents Murray and Lillian Ginzberg and her twin nephews William and James Hirshberg. Her maternal grandmother Bella lived to nearly 101.

With Jo's death, the world has lost a fiercely independent and passionate advocate of the dramatic arts, film acting, and the disenfranchised. She lived life on her own terms, forging a career as a clinical psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, serving with Dr. Paul Dudley White. She volunteered for WGBH TV in Boston and worked in the Baltimore City Schools advocating for disadvantaged children when women neither had their own careers or money. She obtained a bachelor's and master's degree at Boston University in 1949 and 1960, respectively, and started her college years at Connecticut College.

Her passion for the Broadway stage led her to co-produce Erich Segal's "Sing Muse" in 1961, and upon her "retirement" as a clinical psychologist at age 65, she followed her passion and co-starred in Jane Chambers' "Kudzu" on the stage in San Francisco which solidified her desire to pursue acting as her future life's work. She moved to Studio City, California, hired three agents and went to work playing character roles in nearly fifty films and television series including the "Young and the Restless" (her television debut), "Boxing Day,"(with Danny Huston), "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Forget Paris," Bubbie on "Weeds," "Tank Girl," "Shameless," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Southland," "The Ellen Show," "The Jimmy Kimmel Show," (her Generation Gap segment went viral), "American Horror Story," Super Bowl Ad: "Nana Hold my Beer," Pharrell Williams' music video "Freedom," to name a few.

In 2010, the Growing Bolder Radio Network featured her as an example of human reinvention and in 2018 Boston University featured her in their alumni tribute "Not Acting Her Age: Jo Farkas proves it's never too late for a second career." (https://www.bu.edu/articles/2018/jo-farkas-91-year-old-actress/).

A talented and competitive tennis player and athlete, she auditioned until she was 92 and played tennis until age 88, then ardently watched it almost constantly.

Known for her vitality and unique feisty indomitable spirit, she spent countless hours supporting and counseling dear friends and was deeply empathetic and understanding to those in need. Her hilarious humor, dry wit, authenticity, intelligence and uncompromising view of humanity were an indelible part of her nature (as well as her Mario Andretti style of driving and always finishing the daily crossword). She was a woman ahead of her time who fought ostracism and forged a unique and uncompromising life that will be a source of inspiration to those who loved her and those who were lucky enough to know her.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0267579/