Ingeborg Hufnagel, who was born on September 7th, 1919, passed away at her home in Stamford, CT, on June 26th, 2020. Inge was 100 years and 9 months young. She was predeceased by her brother, Edgar Steinbrecher, parents Henry Steinbrech (1948) and Charlotte Steinbrech (1962), her sister, Marga Vanessa Norris (1999), her daughter Irene Furer (Bauer) (2002), her granddaughter, Sabrina Furer (2010) and her son-in-law, Dr. Walter Furer (2020). She is survived by her granddaughter, Cassandra Furer, and the family dog, Meow.

Inge was born in West Berlin, Germany, where her Jewish parents, Charlotte and Henry Steinbrech, owned a tobacco business. She lived in a beautiful home where she took music lessons and attended an excellent private school. Her parents were members of the Berlin zoo, and she often talked about her visits to the zoo as a child. Inge loved animals and she had wonderful memories of picnicking at the zoo.

She loved singing Yiddish songs with her father, Henry, and learning about the business from her mother, Charlotte. They attended concerts, theatre and dance performances, and vacationed in Baden-Baden. By the time she graduated from high school, the Nazis had gained power, so rather than attending college, she went directly to a business school and graduated in 1936. She was offered a job in a Berlin business firm, however, the Nazis refused to grant Inge her work permit.

Her life changed abruptly with the onset of the Holocaust. Some of her family members escaped to Shanghai, Brazil, and South Africa, but her aunt Else perished in Auschwitz. Inge managed to escape Hitler in 1938 when an Argentinian couple sponsored her as a German language tutor. She travelled by ship to Argentina where she met and married Wilhelm Bauer, and gave birth to their daughter, Irene Bauer, a year later. Inge’s father was miraculously fortunate to obtain an approved sponsored visa in 1940 to the USA, and her mother and sister arrived in 1941, right before America entered the war, and all passenger shipping ceased.

In 1946, Inge and Irene joined her parents in New York City. Inge’s husband, Wilhelm Bauer, immigrated to the US, as well, but shortly afterwards they were divorced. Inge briefly worked for a church organization in Boston, and eventually as an executive secretary for the Singer Company at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. She lived on the Upper West Side in New York City and enjoyed biking at Riverside Park with her best friend Cosima Wagner, and spending time with her beloved twin granddaughters, Sabrina and Cassandra Furer.

Inge lived a full and busy life that reflected her brilliance and giant heart.

She was an animal and nature lover, and donated to many charitable animal organizations. She looked forward to going on trips with her granddaughters and friends, notably, Vera and Alex, a Russian couple, and consulting maps to plan her next adventure. Grateful for her career at Singer, she especially enjoyed travelling for business and practicing her love of languages – she was multilingual and conversant in German, Spanish, Italian and French. Always intellectually curious, she even audited literature classes at the University of Connecticut in her 70’s and 80’s. The matriculated students appreciated the opportunity to learn from her! She would often attend workshops about her Jewish faith and Israel, and also went with her friends to the senior lunches at the Italian Center and the Jewish Community Center in Stamford.

As an avid reader, Inge could spend entire days reading classics, history and nature books and watching Animal Planet. She regularly attended the Greenwich and Stamford symphony and would often travel with Cosima Wagner and, and numerous other friends to Rhode Island, Florida, and to Italy and Germany. A group of her friends met regularly at the Stamford Marriott to celebrate one another’s birthdays, and they recited the poems each had written for the guest of honor.

She devoted her professional life to working for Singer, initially in Rockefeller Center and then relocating to Stamford when the company moved there. Inge had a keen mind for mathematics and was a perfectionist, highly organized and efficient. In her 70’s, she became an ESL teacher and taught at Literacy Volunteers and Berlitz. Her students were enraptured by her magnetic intellect and personality and became her close friends. Even in retirement, Inge continued working at the Bartlett Arboretum, and serving as a personal assistant to a prominent businessman, a former executive at Singer, well into her 90’s.

Her personal life was defined by the strength of her relationships. Many people, including Vera and Alex, her Russian friends, called her “Oma” because they, like her twin granddaughters, felt like Inge had become their grandmother, too. She adored her granddaughters and would take them to the ballet, concerts, musicals, plays, and to museums like the Met and the Cloisters, Neu museum and the Jewish museum. Inge spent many happy hours with Sabrina and Cassandra doing arts and crafts projects at her apartment, where she enjoyed having a cat and a bird. She and the girls would often visit the Audubon Society in Greenwich to watch birds, visit fox sanctuaries, and spend time at the Bartlett Arboretum, Pound Ridge, Waveny, and Cove beach.

Inge loved her afternoon tea, most often accompanied by her favorite Austrian pastry, Napoleon or Almond horns. In 2012, her granddaughter, Cassandra, and Cassandra’s beloved, Peter Martin, moved across the street from her in Stamford, where they continued to visit the Arboretum, attend concerts, see movies and dine at restaurants together.

Perceptive, down-to- earth, direct and unsentimental, Inge always approached challenges with a fresh perspective and solution. She would never sugarcoat an issue or problem, and many people sought her advice, confident that she would speak the truth. She was a natural detective, with great analytical skills and perception. Throughout her life, she retained a child-like wonder and amazement about science, animals, nature and, especially, babies. Inge always appeared stylish and polished and never missed a weekly hair appointment or manicure, even when she reached 100 years old.


She lived an active life and always remained physically fit, walking with Cassandra at the Bartlett Arboretum just a few weeks before she passed away. During her last years, Inge often visited Cassandra and Peter at their apartment, where they would listen to her hometown band, The Berliner Philharmonic, and enjoy a gourmet meal created and prepared by Peter. She always loved classical music and shared that her secret dream as a young girl was to be an opera singer!

Her desire to be productive never waned, and at 98 she talked about collaborating with her Cassandra on various projects. “Oma” made sacrifices to help her granddaughters throughout her life, and she was very much loved and cherished by them. She was a kind, gentle but firm soul, who could perceptively analyze and tell a person their flaws, with a loving and compassionate smile. Her deep love of animals lasted throughout her life, and the family dogs, Lola, and then Meow, remained her faithful companions, accompanying her on her daily adventures.
Her beloved home health-care companions, our angels, Marie Tarline Cayau, Carmel Sainteus, and Antoniode, were devoted companions to Inge, and loved her so much that they also called her Oma! Inge loved them, and encouraged Marie to start her own company. Marie is now the founder/president of Kerb Home Care Services, and is grateful to Inge for giving her the courage and confidence to pursue her dreams.
Inge’s friends and family describe her as Loving, Enthusiastic, Godly, Hardworking, Unsentimental, No Filter, Down to Earth, Witty, Compassionate, Intellectual, and a great Animal lover. She was always willing to help anybody in need, in any capacity. Inge will continue to live in our hearts, and “Oma” will be our guardian angel forever.

Those planning an expression of sympathy may wish to consider memorials to the Bartlett Arboretum (http://www.bartlettarboretum.…) or the
Connecticut's Greenwich Audubon Center (https://greenwich.audubon.org…)