Superior Court candidate Jill Beck has NEPA roots

May 17—Visiting Northeast Pennsylvania isn't just another campaign stop for Superior Court judge candidate Jill Beck.

The Pittsburgh attorney has family here.

Beck's family does indeed have deep roots in the area, as the recently released television ads for her campaign state.

Her grandmother, Shirley Frumkin Lessick, was born in Hazleton and lived on Oak Street, and she remembers visiting her great-grandmother's family home as a child.

Her grandmother was one of six children of Jacob and Dora Frumkin of Hazleton, and she lived in Hazleton through elementary school.

Her great-grandfather, Jacob Frumkin, owned Jacob Frumkin & Sons, a wholesale business on South Church Street that handled candy, cigars, cigarettes, jewelry, luggage and numerous national brand merchandise.

An entrepreneur, he passed that trait down through the family. Her uncle, Dave Frumkin, owned Dave's Deli and Discountland USA in Hazleton.

"He was always one of my favorite uncles," Beck said, noting that he was a twin, and her aunt, Helen, passed early due to pancreatic cancer, which also claimed her mother.

"We have a close-knit family," Beck said, despite being on opposite sides of the state. "We've kept up with each other."

Beck credits her mother, the late Sue Lessick Lipman, for keeping those family connections close, and she has honored her mother's memory by doing the same.

Her grandfather, her mother's father, Jack Lessick, was a manager in the Hazleton garment industry, and she noted that he called upon his skills to make an orange vest for a family pet that too much resembled a bear cub.

The family moved to Harrisburg, where her parents met in high school. Her father's family came from Wilkes-Barre, she said. His mother, the former Doris Leibman, was the daughter of Meyer Leibman, who owned a barbershop at Market and Grant streets in Wilkes-Barre, he said.

Beck's aunt, Sandy Platsky, a retired nurse, is still in the Wyoming Valley and they visited each other on a recent campaign stop to Wilkes-Barre, she said. She's also stayed with her mother's cousin, Lee Glassberg, in Drums while on the campaign trail, Beck said.

"It's an added bonus," she said.

Beck has visited Luzerne County fives times, collecting signatures on petitions and campaigning, she said. A week ago, she visited businesses on Wyoming and Alter streets in Hazleton, getting out to met people, she said.

Beck has visited 50 of the state's 67 counties, because she is in a statewide race for Superior Court judge and every county matters, she said.

"I take very seriously that every county counts," Beck said, noting that she hopes to visit a few more, including Carbon County, before the primary. "I keep telling people don't invite me, because I'll come."

Beck never expected to be traveling and visiting so many people during the early part of the campaign due to the pandemic, but has seen a shift with people being more receptive to holding and attending events.

But it's nice to see people in person with the vaccine more widely available and not only on a virtual platform, such as Zoom, she said.

Beck, a Democrat, wants to ensure equal and equitable access to justice for everyone, and noted that the state's Superior Court is one of the busiest in the state.

"These are important cases," she said, stating they decide a person's right to freedom, to parent their children, their health, wealth, safety, property, business and inheritance. "I know the law. I know the job. I will put the time, effort and energy in to the do the job well."

Contact the writer: kmonitz@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3589