Linda Lou Geld

Linda Geld (Wishna, Laventhall) was born LINDA LOU WILDFEUER on Apr 03, 1939 in New York. Died March 3, 2026 at home in Boca Raton, FL.

She was pre-deceased by son Ricky Wishna. Survived by husband Jim Geld, daughter Robyn Wishna, other daughters Julie Friedman and Jenny Cooley, adopted son Peter Laventhall and halfsister Lisa Nash.

As a child her two most favorite things were her best friend Louise and Camp Rondack. Linda said Louise cried the whole time because she missed her mommy and that Louise had no athletic ability. Linda grew up in New York City and Long Island eventually spending 6 years with her grandmother in Hawaii. Linda married at 16 to Calvin Wishna. They moved back to NY from Hawaii where she began a lifelong involvement volunteering with the National Council of Jewish Women.

While raising her kids on Long Island, Linda got her GED and went to night school to get an interior design education and certification. In her forties, after moving back to Manhattan, she enrolled in an adult program at Fordham University and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Baruch College with a BS in public administration. She worked with the NY State Lt. Governor Al Del Bello on the NY State Citizens Task Force on Aging Out, helping kids who age out of mental health systems, and was instrumental in improving legislation associated with that program. Later she was the Executive Director of the National Task Force on Youth Suicide Prevention. She continued design work, Linda Wishna Interiors, most of her life.

She also ran a stationery business with her first cousin Enid Harris. The two often went to the corner coffee shop where legend has it, Linda invented the scooped out bagel in the mid-eighties. Never butter, eggs and French fries very well done, always dressing on the side and ketchup with her scrambled/dry eggs. She was very close to Enid and her other first cousin, Pat-they were like sisters.

In 1995 Linda married Jim Geld, her third husband and, as she said, she finally got it right. They traveled the world and lived the past 23 years in Boca Raton. Linda and Jim found additional family in their small cul-de-sac community in Boca. They became grandparents to the neighbor kids and have been friends with and cared for by neighbors Meredith, Teresa, Andrea and Wally. They spent 6 years as members of Stonebridge CC with their close friends Phylis and Bob Topchik and their next door neighbors Phylis and Bob Riesner, Linda and Steven Kates, Joyce Sosin and others. Linda and another good friend from Stonebridge Laura Yellin worked with NCJW and gave talks at community centers, country clubs, organizations and churches on sex trafficking. Not surprisingly Laura said it was Linda’s idea: she got it organized, they had training and she made it happen.

Linda’s heart was always in New York City. She took her kids to Broadway and opera and music events at a very young age and gave them the gift of summer camp too. She was even a group leader at two of Robyn’s camps. She loved going to museums, dance, symphony, opera, film and any theater. Despite sleeping through most of many films and plays with Bob Topchik, she would always join in the critique after. Jim can vouch for this.

Linda went to her fair share of protests and rallies for causes that concerned her. She was a life-long Democrat and one of her proudest moments was volunteering for the 2008 debate between Obama and Romney in Boca. She first helped direct traffic (think orange vest and walkie-talkie) and then had a post in the Republican spin room—you know how she felt about that. She chose to be buried in her volunteer t-shirt from that event.

Linda was a force. She did not often mince her words and was appreciated for her directness. She was a stellar host and enjoyed having friends and family for holidays and other events. She was an organizer, a doer, and a planner. She enriched the lives of those close to her. Donations in her memory can be made to National Council of Jewish Women or your favorite human rights organization.

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