Ada Nierman, 99, who founded a charity club in her teens and supported such community organizations as Lambs Farm in Libertyville and the Loop Synagogue in Chicago, died Saturday, Feb. 17, in her Los Angeles apartment. She had been recovering from a mild stroke. A resident in her retirement of Palm Springs, Calif., and recently Los Angeles, Mrs. Nierman grew up in Wicker Park and lived in Chicago most of her life. At 19, the former Ada Steinberg founded the Delta Flush Society to raise money and provide food and other necessities for needy families in Chicago, a project that complemented a similar initiative, in which coal was delivered by the 24th Ward office to provide fuel for heat for cash-strapped residents. “She was a real modern thinker. She really wanted to make people’s lives better,” said her granddaughter Peggy Kimble. “If she saw that there was a way to help, she dove in and did it.” Married in 1924 to Chicago Board of Trade member Max Nierman, Mrs. Nierman devoted herself to volunteerism and fundraising for Lambs Farm, where two of her grandchildren are residents, and at the Chicago Loop Synagogue. At the same time, her husband, once the youngest member of the Chicago Board of Trade and a founder of the Chicago Loop Synagogue, established his own trading firm and served as a governor on the Board of Trade clearinghouse. He died in 1990; their daughter Marcia Wagner died in 1998. Mrs. Nierman also volunteered at Michael Reese Hospital, working on behalf of Aid to Russia, and selling war bonds during World War II. “She didn’t sit still very much,” said her granddaughter Betsy Hoffman. “She used to tell us that you have to give back. And she lived that way.” The Niermans moved to Palm Springs in 1970, where Mrs. Nierman taught reading to public school children, volunteered at the Desert Museum and for the Desert AIDS project and served in local senior centers. In addition to her granddaughters, Mrs. Nierman is survived by two daughters, Miriam Lazar and Joan Weiss; two sisters, Ann Wineberg and Lillian Weinper; four other grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. There were no immediate plans for a memorial service.
