Los Gatos

Cookie Addison passed away peacefully at her home in Los Gatos on October 20, 2024, at the age of 91.

Cookie’s life was one of commitment to the causes she believed in. While her community involvement crossed many years, she and her husband, Arnold “Arnie” Addison, will be remembered as visionaries and founders of the Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos. It was their dream to have a place where the community could come together, with activities and events for people of all ages and backgrounds.

In supporting her community, Cookie served in a variety of board and leadership roles. Additionally, she volunteered with local organizations and was honored for her work.

Cookie graduated from Northwestern University, where she earned her degree in Education. Throughout the years, she especially enjoyed Broadway musicals, theater, and traveling the world with her husband and friends. She was a tennis player and an ace at crossword puzzles. Whenever a swing tune or jitterbug played, Cookie would be on the dance floor.

From childhood through her later years, her greatest passion was art. Cookie was an avid painter of people and places. Her paintings were included in local exhibitions including the Saratoga Rotary Art Show and the Los Gatos Art Association, where her work received recognition.

Cookie loved to gather people together. She made friends easily, was fully interested in what they had to share, and made them feel welcome. She had lifelong friendships and lived with an energy that touched many.

Cookie is survived by her three children: Robin (Chuck, deceased); Alana; Steve; her five grandchildren: Ilana (Aaron); Michael (Madeleine), Elisa (Dylan); Rachel (Russell); Nicole; her six great-grandchildren; and her sister, Renee (Carl). She was preceded in death by her husband, Arnold, and by her sister, Lillian. She will be deeply missed by her nieces, nephews, and extended family.

We will miss her love, wit, and vibrancy. Her memory will live oninher paintings that are on our walls, in her scrapbooks documenting every family gathering, and in the stories we pass to future generations.

Donations in her memory can be made to Hospice of the Valley, Jewish Silicon Valley, or a charity of choice.