Naomi Wilzig (December 5, 1934 – April 7, 2015) was an American erotic art collector. She was the founder and director of the World Erotic Art Museum in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, which contains her collection.

Early years

Wilzig was one of six children born to real estate developer H. Jerome Sisselman, known as the

Hackensack Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for a large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of New Yor ...

czar, who amassed a large tract of land to build Berry’s Creek Center. Wilzig was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

in 1934. Wilzig graduated from

Weequahic High School Weequahic High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in the Weequahic section of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school is operated by th ...

in Newark, and attended New Jersey’s Montclair State Teachers College, currently

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

. In the early 1950s she married

Siggi Wilzig Siggi B. Wilzig, born Siegbert Wilzig (March 11, 1926 – January 7, 2003), was a survivor of concentration camps Auschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camp, Mauthausen who arrived in the United States, USA in 1947 w ...

, an

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

survivor and an early leader of the

U.S. Holocaust Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust, dedicated to the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust. Opened in 1993, the museum explores the Holocaust through p ...

, as well as president of the Trust Company of New Jersey until his death in 2003. The Wilzigs lived most of their married life in

Clifton, New Jersey Clifton is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Criss-crossed by several major highways, the city is a regional commercial hub for North Jersey and is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan Area.L ...

, and had three children:

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the B ...

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, and Sherry. In 2005, following her husband's death in 2003, Wilzig moved to

The collector and the museum

In 1983 Wilzig began collecting

erotic art Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any artistic work intended to evoke arousal. It usually depicts human nudity or sexual activity, and has included works in various visual mediums, including drawings, engravings, fil ...

for herself. Between 2003 and 2005 she accumulated more than 4,000 pieces from around the world. Her personal collection became the base of the World Erotic Art Museum, which opened in 2005. The collection includes "Kama Sutra temple carvings from India, peek-a-boo Victorian figurines that flash their booties, and a prop from the sexual thriller '

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

'".

Civic activism

Numerous organizations have benefited from the insight and service of Wilzig. She served at the helm of many of them: as Founder and a Lifetime Member of

Hadassah Hospital Hadassah Medical Center () is an Israeli medical organization established in 1934 that operates two university hospitals in Jerusalem (one in Ein Karem and one in Mount Scopus) as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology ...

in Jerusalem, Israel; as a member of the

Israel Bonds Israel Bonds, the commonly known name of Development Corporation for Israel (DCI), is the U.S. underwriter of debt securities issued by the State of Israel. DCI is headquartered in New York City and is a broker-dealer and member of the Financial ...

’ President’s Club; as founder of the Wilzig Hospital Center in Jersey City, N.J.; and the Parents Association of Cardozo Law School of

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

. She was a Lifetime Member of the Congregation Adas Israel Synagogue in Passaic, N.J., and held the distinction of being the only woman ever honored as Woman of the Year by the Synagogue. Naomi was also a Lifetime Member of the Florida Holocaust Museum in Saint Petersburg. Naomi was also on board of directors of the Holocaust Memorial of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Life Member and Director of Daughters of Miriam Center for the Aged, and a member of the

American Association of Museums The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, is a non-profit association whose goal is to bring museums together. Founded in 1906, the organization advocates for museums and provides "museum professionals w ...

Honors

In 2006, on the first anniversary of WEAM, Wilzig was honored with the Key to the City of Miami Beach. In 2011, the City of Miami Beach proclaimed October 16 "World Erotic Art Museum Day" in honor of Wilzig's museum's fifth anniversary. On October 16, 2010, he city of Miami Beach issued a Proclamation declaring the day "World Erotic Art Museum Day," commemorating the fifth anniversary of the museum. On May 12, 2011, The

Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHS) was a private, unaccredited, for-profit graduate school and resource center for the field of sexology in San Francisco, California. It was established in 1976 and closed in 2018. Degr ...

presented Wilzig with "Doctor of Arts Honors Causa Sexuality/Erotology." On October 16, 2011, the city of Miami Beach issued a proclamation declaring it Naomi Wilzig Day at her public investiture of her doctorate degree ceremony. On May 12, 2011, the

presented Wilzig with "Doctor of Arts Honors Causa Sexuality/Erotology." In 2011 she was chosen as Business Person of the year by the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

References

External links

The WEAM Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilzig, Naomi 1934 births 2015 deaths American activists Weequahic High School alumni Writers from Newark, New Jersey People from Miami Beach, Florida Place of death missing