Iris “Nina” Merrick Holzman Lamb ’56 died on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021.
Me’irah Iliinsky ’80 writes: “Nina was the eldest of the two sisters I grew up with, and being 12 years older than me, she was one of my caregivers. She liked delighting children with special attention, and I was her first. Thinking about her these last two weeks, I am guessing that her warmth and love most likely gave me the ability to do the same.
“Nina went to Antioch College, setting an example for me. I applied nowhere else. She graduated as a Literature major in the mid 1950s. She married Jac Holzman, who had just founded Elektra Records, so Nina had a life surrounded by a bountiful talent of singers and musicians. She wrote many of the texts on the Elektra Record jackets.
“Nina loved cooking; her kitchen was her “art studio.” At one point Nina had a health food catering service called Pure Pleasure, where she once enjoined my husband and me to cook with her crew for the musicians at the Monterey Folk Festival. She wrote two little cookbooks for family and friends, filled with her favorite recipes.
“Nina’s greatest pleasure was to cook wonderful meals, set beautiful tables with overflowing flower arrangements, and enjoy the company of her guests; and of course, Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday.
“Nina married a second time to Kirk Lamb, who cared for her at home with unstinting patience, tenderness, kindness during her slide into dementia that began about 8 years ago. For the last three years, she lived at Welbrook, a community near their home in Santa Monica.
“Nina leaves behind sisters Cleis, Kathryn and Susan (Me’irah), her husband Kirk, and former husband Jac. Also her son Adam Holzman and daughter-in-law Jane Getter, her grandson Russell Holzman, her daughter Jaclyn Easton, and nieces and nephews.”