Sandra Cohen Oberman

Sandra Cohen Oberman, 86, died suddenly on July 30, 2025. Beloved childhood sweetheart and wife for more than 62 years of the late Marvin I Oberman, her life was one of resilience and reinvention, with connections and a career that left a lasting impact on the Charleston community.

Sandra was a fighter camouflaged in high fashion. If it’s said you never forget a pretty face, that’s especially true when it’s that of a feisty woman determined to go to the mat for the people she loved and causes she championed. She gained that grit early in life, shouldering considerable responsibility after the family business fell on tough times and her parents died prematurely, casting her as a second mother to her younger siblings.

A lifelong Charlestonian, Sandra graduated from Rivers High School (1957) and the College of Charleston (1961). As a young wife and mother, Sandra had eclectic endeavors: telephone switchboard operator, 2nd grade teacher and aerobics instructor when women’s fitness programs first emerged. A talented vocalist, she wrote skits and performed in revues for philanthropic causes, including the American Cancer Society, Hadassah and the Council of Jewish Women.

Her Jackie Kennedy-esque elegance prevailed whether in a ballgown on the Miss Charleston pageant runway, a girl scout uniform, tennis whites or a designer business suit to host the visit of a former US president. After lovingly guiding her children to the cusp of college, she returned to the College of Charleston to earn her Master’s in Education.

Two things at that point reshaped the second half of her life. During field training at the Early Childhood Development Center, Sandra met a group of brilliant, passionate women. Her “ECDC girls” remained dear friends, even through weekly lunches together in the last years of her life. But she simultaneously faced aggressive breast cancer. A job in germy classrooms was ill-advised while under treatment. So, Sandra pivoted to children in a different setting and started a decades-long career at The Children’s Hospital of the Medical University of South Carolina. With a chemo schedule pushed to the weekends and wig to hide hair loss, she concealed how personally she related to her young patients’ need for support coping with the stress and pain of treatment.

Initially hired to advance the hospital’s volunteer program, she helped usher in an era of family-centered care with the Friends of the Children advisory council and a community board. Work alongside her mentor Dr Charles Darby led to the role of which she was most proud: establishing a nationally respected Child Life Program. A fledgling field few understood at the time, she worked to protect and justify psychosocial care as equally vital to clinical intervention. And she slowly won over hospital leadership and trained clinicians on this holistic approach as an instructor in the MUSC department of pediatrics.

Among an early group certified as a Child Life Specialist, Sandra over time built and mentored a talented team of these specialists to deploy to all corners of MUSC. That included transforming the children’s hospital’s architecturally stunning Atrium into a space dedicated for therapeutic play. Determined to keep pediatric patients the priority, she fought efforts to seize the space for social and promotional events. Sandra and her team produced and presented at conferences nationwide key research on the use of child-directed play promoting recovery. And members of that brood have kept that MUSC mission alive, and stayed in her life, well after her retirement.

Her contributions to the launch and success of the Ronald McDonald House of Charleston are another lasting legacy. She was a founding board member and established its early operating protocols and community board.

Those who loved her will safeguard the memory of this woman who gracefully balanced the role of dedicated wife, mother and proud grandmother while leaving an indelible mark as a fierce advocate for sick children and those entrusted with their care.

Sandra was laid to rest following a service for immediate family. A memorial message may be sent via www.jhenrystuhr.com. Those who wish to further honor Sandra are encouraged to make a donation to the Ronald McDonald House of Charleston (rmhcharleston.org) as it expands to bring more families navigating complex health care issues through the doors that Sandra helped to open wide.

Sandra is survived by her children, Harold Oberman of Charleston and Linda Prager of Evanston, IL; son-in-law Adam Prager; grandchildren Olivia and Josh Prager; sister-in-law Janet Livingstain, as well as a niece and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Dorothy Rosen Cohen; and brothers, Stanley and Nathan Cohen.