Saundra Buskin, retired Northport VA hospital nurse, widow of Newsday editor, dies at 91

Commack resident and retired nurse Saundra Buskin was the matriarch of her family, someone who tended to countless people with ailments over the years, her family said.

"Depending on which decade you knew her, she sat up with you at night just talking if that's what you needed. She was always ready to remove a splinter or bandage a bruise," said Buskin's daughter Linda Tuccio-Koonz, of Newtown, Connecticut.

Buskin died on Feb. 25 at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore after a stroke. She was 91.

Buskin was born on Dec. 5, 1934, in Brooklyn. She grew up in Astoria, Queens, and graduated from the borough's Long Island City High School. In 1955, she received her registered nursing degree from the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in Brooklyn. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1973 from SUNY Empire State College in Old Westbury.

She married Martin Buskin, Newsday's first education editor and an early founder of Stony Brook University's journalism school, on June 3, 1956. The two lived in Kew Gardens, Queens, until moving in 1961 to Commack, where they raised their two daughters, Linda and Randi. (Martin Buskin died at age 45 in 1976.)

Daughter Randi Baker remembered her mother as "a great listener and a true friend."

"Even though she had a lot on her plate, my sister, Linda, and I always came first. I always felt her unconditional love," said Baker, of Hauppauge. "When I was in college, I wanted to study overseas for a semester and backpack through Europe. I know it must have been difficult for her to let me go so far away ... but she never held us back."

Saundra Buskin worked as a nurse at the Northport Veterans Affairs hospital for 38 years, retiring in 1999. According to her family, she "loved the relationships she built with her patients" as a nurse.

"Caring for people came naturally to her, and she took pride in knowing she could help make someone feel better and more comfortable," Tuccio-Koonz said. "Mom kept in touch with everyone and helped keep our whole family connected."

Karen Rehm met Buskin in 1973 at the VA hospital, and although Buskin was 21 years older, the two bonded immediately.

"Early in our friendship, she was a mentor and second mother to me. We only actually worked together for five years, but formed a loving friendship that spanned almost 53 years," said Rehm, of Centereach. "Sandy always said what was on her mind, often with colorful metaphors. I admired her for that."

Saundra and Martin Buskin embraced diversity and believed in the importance of education, her daughters said.

"She always said, 'I know a little bit about a lot of things, but not enough about anything,' " Baker said.

Buskin enjoyed traveling, reading the newspaper and nursing magazines and spending time with her family.

Buskin's grandson Michael Tuccio called her grandmothering style "radically transparent."

"She both loved and critiqued her grandkids with an honesty and intensity I've never seen anywhere else," said Tuccio, of California. "However, she also always told us that she loved us 'more' and used all her available strength to hug us as tightly as possible." 

Buskin "wanted all of her kids and grandkids to be happy," Tuccio said.

"She would want to be remembered as fiercely brave — stronger than she ever gave herself credit for," Baker said.

In addition to her daughters, Buskin is survived by a brother, Martin Rosman, of Towson, Maryland, four grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

Services were held on March 5 at Star of David Memorial Chapels in West Babylon, followed by interment at Long Island National Cemetery, Pinelawn. Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or the Buskin Committee, which funds the annual Buskin Awards for Outstanding Campus Journalism at Stony Brook University.