Ida Schaechter

WEST HARTFORD – Ida Smith Schaechter, an adjunct professor of mathematics at the University of Hartford, was killed in a house fire that swept through her two-story wood frame home on High Wood Road in West Hartford on Tuesday, Nov. 1.  She was 78.
Though the fire was still under investigation as the Ledger went to press, it is believed to have originated in a first-floor fireplace that had been lit to warm the home left without power by the Oct. 30 storm that knocked out power to much of Connecticut. Schaechter’s 82-year old husband Harry escaped the burning house and was hospitalized at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford.
Born in Milford, Mass., Schaechter was the daughter of the late Solomon and Bessie (Vilinsky) Smith. She attended Milford High School and Boston University, receiving her B.A. from Clark University and her M.A. from the University of Hartford. Before joining the University of Hartford family, she served as a teacher in the Hartford public school system for 36 years. She was also a past president of the National Council of Jewish Women.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Judith (Michael Brownstein) Schaechter of Arlington, Mass., and Lauren (Andy) Lieberman of Simsbury; her grandchildren, Deanna and Sam Lieberman, and Alana Brownstein; and her sister Lillian Cohen of Athol, Mass.. She was predeceased by her brothers, Robert Smith and Sidney Smith.