Jacob Nachmias, September 06, 1928 — March 02, 2019

Jacob’s Obituary Jacob Nachmias died Saturday, March 2, 2019, after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Vivianne T. Nachmias; daughters Lisa Nachmias Davis and Sarah Nachmias; grandchildren Ann C.T. Davis and Luke L.B. Davis; step-grandchild Laura Reardon; sister Rachel Franco; niece Karen Porper; nephew Albert Franco; cousins Yvette Bauer and Susan Kennedy; beloved members of his wife’s family; and numerous friends, both local and international. Born June 9, 1928, in Athens, Greece, Jack left his home in Sofia, Bulgaria with the rest of his family in 1939 to come to America and escape the Nazis.

Their departure on the last ship to sail from Paris is the subject of family legend, documented in files now stored online with the Holocaust Museum. Jack was legally blind his entire life but refused to consider that a disability. After graduating from Cornell, he obtained an MA from Swarthmore while teaching and working with Hans Wallach and Wolfgang Kohler, who also escaped the Nazis.

After earning his PhD from Harvard, he studied at Cambridge University in England on a Fulbright scholarship. He enjoyed a long and satisfying career as a Professor of Psychology with a specialty in visual perception at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also served two terms as Department Chairman. He had another stint in Cambridge, England working with John Robson and Murray Sachs on visual channels.

He especially loved music (both classical and folk music of many countries), literature, ethnic food, liberal politics, walking around his old neighborhood in West Philadelphia, and most of all, his family. He valued responsibility, self-reliance, honesty, and modesty. He despised superficiality and pretentiousness of any kind.

As his father before him, his last written instructions to us were in Ladino (the Judao-Spanish of Sephardic Jews), “no me olvides,” (don’t forget me), and we never will. Funeral services will be private. Arrangements are entrusted to the Huff & Lakjer Funeral Home, Lansdale.

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