New York- Janice Auritt Oser died on March 9, 2026, at the age of 95. Determined to live independently for as long as possible, she died suddenly of natural causes in her condominium in Rhinebeck, New York, just as she would have wanted. "Jan," as she insisted on being called—but "Jama" to her grandchildren—was born on August 19, 1930, in Philadelphia, PA, the youngest of three children. She once said her glory days began and ended with school, though her school days continued, with some interruptions, through her fifties. She attended West Philadelphia High School and then, on a full merit scholarship, the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her husband, Alan S. Oser; she was editor in chief of the women's newspaper, and he was editor of "The Daily Pennsylvanian" and a monthly magazine called "Pennpix." Jan wanted to go to law school after college. Without the financial means to do so, she worked in publishing for a few years in New York City until her husband's newspaper work took the couple to Cape Cod, where she and her husband's first child (a son) was born, and then to Weymouth, MA, where their second child (also a son) was born. The family later returned to New York City, where they added a daughter to their ranks and ultimately settled in St. George on Staten Island. While raising three children, Jan pursued and obtained a Ph.D. in Philosophy as a Danforth fellow at New York University (NYU). She then taught courses in existentialism as an adjunct at NYU and at Kean and Bloomfield Colleges in New Jersey. She ultimately obtained a J.D. at NYU, finally launching her chosen career in law at the age of 54 at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. There, she rose to bank supervision officer—a particularly satisfying feat, as among other things it gave her entree to the officers' dining room. Upon her retirement, at 70, Jan created an online magazine, "Eldercountry," with profiles of seniors who had launched second careers, humorous essays by her husband, and a legal column. Jan remained a ferocious intellectual to the very end, always more eager to debate ideas, controversial world events, or the latest article in the New York Review of Books than to discuss infirmities, hers or anyone else's. Jan was predeceased by her eldest son, Clyde Ross Oser, and her husband, who died on their 60th wedding anniversary at the end of a vacation the couple took in Barcelona, Spain. She is survived by her son Roy B. Oser and his wife Amy Linksy Oser; her daughter Andrea Oser and her husband David Alan Miller; and her grandchildren, Elias (and his wife Mengqiao Sun), Miranda, and Ari Oser Miller, and Rebecca Rose and Alina Claire Oser. Arrangements and guidance are under the direction of the Roberts Funeral Home, 62 Bowdoin Street, Winthrop, ME. To make a donation in her memory, the family suggests Brain and Behavior Research (formerly NARSAD), another charity supporting the mentally ill, or a charity of your choice.