Tamar “Tammy” Coffsky would rather miss a meal than see an animal go hungry.
Her family would tease her about preferring animals to people -- but it really wasn’t a joke because, usually, it was true.
“She was in love with horses before she could walk and she would always take care of animals, particularly cats,” said her father, Rabbi Barry Coffsky, of Marietta, adding, that as a child, Ms. Coffsky was an equestrian competitor.
Ms. Coffsky, a native of Akron, Ohio, and Marietta resident, died unexpectedly July 2. She was 38. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Greenlawn Jewish Funeral Directors at Patterson’s Arlington Chapel. Para-Rabbinic Mitch Cohen is officiating. Interment will follow at Arlington Memorial Park.
Though born Tamar, Ms. Coffsky’s nickname became her primary moniker.
“She wasn’t a Tamar, she was a Tammy,” Rabbi Coffsky said. “She marched to her own tune. She was definitely a free spirit.”
After a college career that took her to Kent State University in Ohio and University of Georgia, her father’s alma mater, Ms. Coffsky graduated from Kennesaw State University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Her connection to animals was displayed by her work at various veterinarian clinics in the Atlanta area, but Ms. Coffsky had equally strong interests in the arts, especially reading and movies, from which she was known to quote extensively.
She didn’t have any particular standouts -- “Any and every [movie] was her favorite,” said her father -- but she was also always intrigued by the craft of writing.
She voraciously read and re-read works by Kurt Vonnegut and Ayn Rand, and dreamed of becoming a writer herself.
But employment frequently intervened. In recent years, Ms. Coffsky worked in the local TV and film industry as a production assistant, handling lighting and other behind-the-scenes tasks.
Her family said she currently helped with production of video content on the WebMD health and medical website.
Though Ms. Coffsky usually lived with several cats, at the time of her death she had two.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to Healing Hands Youth Ranch, 113 Addington Lane, Waleska 30183. The organization pairs disadvantaged children with abused and rescued horses.
Other survivors step-mother are Michele Coffsky, brother and sister-in-law Adam and Amy Coffsky of Dunwoody, two step-sisters, an aunt and uncle, three nephews, a niece and numerous cousins.
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