Harriet Rachel Grossbart

January 22, 1946 – November 22, 2023.

Born in Hudson, NY and raised in S. Miami, FL., Harriet attended Southwest Miami High School and graduated in 1964.  She went on to graduate from the University of Florida before she moved to Lincoln in 1972.

Harriet was a wife, and mother, sister, advocate for persons with disabilities, a special educator and administrator of programs serving persons with developmental disabilities, both children and adults.

Harriet worked at the University of Florida counseling center prior to moving to Nebraska. Once in Lincoln, she was a special educator for Lancaster Office of Mental Retardation (LOMR) and then went on to become Director of Programs at LOMR and Res Care. There she helped write the state of Nebraska regulations for special education.  She also worked to obtain for LOMR one of the first accreditations of community programs serving developmentally disabled individuals. She also helped to set up adult drop-in centers for adults in Lincoln.

She helped found the LOMR Foundation, which hosts over 200 special needs trusts and provides grants to disabled individuals who are unable to locate other resources.

Upon retirement she was co-owner of Payee Specialists.  During the last year she worked with her husband in writing a book regarding the county courthouses of Nebraska.

Harriet lived to help others.  She leaves many friends.  She loved dogs, was a gourmet cook and loved to travel.

She is survived by her husband, Dean Settle, her daughters Holly (Mark) Blankstein, Julie Calvo, and grandchildren Stella and Reed Blankstein. She is preceded in death by her parents, Elaine and Jerry Weitzman and her sisters Barbara and Linda.

Memorials can be sent to the Quality of Life Foundation, formerly the LOMR Foundation, c/o First Nebraska Trust Company P.O. Box 81667 Lincoln, NE 68501. (402) 477-2200 www.myqlf.org.

A Celebration of Life will be held January 22, 2024 at 1:00 at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun/The South Street Temple 2061 S. 20th Street, Lincoln, NE 68502.

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