Phyllis Heller, a South African-born rare book dealer whose life reflected a deep Jewish identity and devotion to family, died on Aug. 9 in Rockville. She was 87.
Born Phyllis Posniak in 1938, she grew up in Wynberg, a suburb of Cape Town, in a large and loving extended family of more than 30 first cousins. Her parents were of Lithuanian-Jewish descent. Her father’s family operated Posniak’s, a shop that sold bicycles, strollers and cribs, while her mother’s family ran Wynberg Produce. “Although they didn’t have a lot of money, there really was a lot of love,” said her son, Dr. Theo Heller.
Heller grew up with her brother, Lawrence Posniak, surrounded by Jewish life in Cape Town. She met her husband, Joshua Heller, on a ship to England. A cousin introduced them as they boarded, and they spent two weeks at sea together. They listened late into the evening to fellow passenger and South African pianist Yonty Solomon rehearse for London concerts. Phyllis and Joshua Heller married soon afterward and returned to South Africa, where they raised their family. “They had a fantastic, loving relationship, very kind and very sensitive to each other,” Theo Heller said. The couple remained married for 57 years, until Joshua Heller’s death in 2018.
The young couple settled in Worcester, a small rural town in South Africa with few Jews. Joshua Heller worked in the family’s livestock feed business. They made sure their children remained connected to Judaism. Theo and his sister Adrienne were sent to board at a Jewish day school in Cape Town before the family moved back so they could finish school at home. “Jewish identity was always front and center for her,” Theo Heller said. “She even sent me to friends in Israel at age 11 for three months so I would learn Hebrew.”
Heller later earned a college degree in psychology and English in Cape Town while her children were in high school.
In 1985, as apartheid deepened, the Hellers immigrated to Washington, D.C., to join extended family. Many South African Jews were leaving then, driven by opposition to apartheid, political uncertainty and the search for greater security abroad.
The couple started Joshua Heller Rare Books from their home on Albemarle Street. The specialty business, run by appointment and through catalogs, focused on artist books and private press publications. Over 30 years, they built a reputation in a niche market, selling to institutions such as the Smithsonian and to major private collectors.
“My father identified the art, but my mother really ran the business,” Theo Heller said. “She wrote the catalogs, and her degree came into good use.” The catalogs became her signature contribution.
Her daughter, Adrienne Navetta, said the catalogs reflected her mother’s talent and passion. “She was able to articulate in a way that really captured the essence of a rare book,” Navetta said.
Family remained an important focus. After moving to Kemp Mill, she and her husband joined their son’s family for Shabbat lunch nearly every week. Following her husband’s death, she continued the tradition, coming weekly until her health no longer allowed it. She was deeply involved with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, stocking her home with their favorite foods and toys.
She was a member of Young Israel Shomrai Emunah in Silver Spring. Each week, when her son walked her home after Shabbat services, she preferred to take the route past the synagogue entrance. “She wanted to walk past the shul after services because so many people were standing outside,” he said. “It made her so happy to see people proudly Jewish and openly Jewish.”
Her grandson, Dov Heller, remembered her careful attention to detail when it came to the kosher food she kept for them. “She would have a pantry full of exactly the products we wanted — Bolthouse Farms juice, Walker shortbread cookies, not just anything. She held herself and others to that standard,” he said. He also recalled her pride in Jewish accomplishments. “She loved to talk about Nobel Prize winners, authors, artists — any Jewish success,” he said. “She just felt pure love for her people.”
Heller was known for her warmth and generosity. Navetta said friends often told her that her mother made them feel like daughters. “She was incredibly caring, more for others than for herself,” Navetta said. “She made people feel welcome, offering food, hugs, stories — just genuine kindness.”
Her life also reflected resilience. At 49, she was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer and told she had little chance of survival. “The oncologist told me to drop out of medical school because my mother had a 5% chance of living,” Theo Heller said. “She said absolutely not. She told me to finish, that God would take care of her.” During long hospital stays, she continued to work on catalogs. “She would lie there getting chemotherapy and say, ‘I’m so blessed. We’re out of South Africa, you’re becoming a doctor, your sister’s becoming a nurse, I’m getting the best care. What more could I want?’”
Her children said she combined kindness with determination. “People often underestimated her grit because of her softness,” Theo Heller said. “Failure was not an option, but it was always tempered with kindness. I never heard her say a negative word.”
In her final years, she faced dementia but remained engaged with family and community as much as possible. She also took pride in supporting Sulam, the Jewish special education program in the Washington area.
She is remembered as a woman whose intelligence, love of books and devotion to family and Jewish life shaped everything she did. “She was talented on so many levels, as a mother, as a wife, as a friend, as a confidant,” Navetta said. “She was just an incredible human being that so many people will miss.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
