Jo-Ann Lautman

Jo-Ann Lautman was born in Los Angeles, where she now lives in the home built by her grandparents in 1936. A true Angeleno, she has been involved with many local organizations, including the Skirball Cultural Center, MOCA, Women in Health, Los Angeles Children’s Museum, and is a member of the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

Jo-Ann was educated at Boston University and Marymount College, where she majored in Sociology and Education. She focused on the Psycho-social Treatment of Hospice Patients and their Families at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Continuing on this theme and developing her passion, she ran groups in the Parenting Center at Stephen S. Wise Temple, which subsequently created a Bereavement program, thus combining her specialized education and singular abilities in this area. In 1980 the first group for “Young Widows and Widowers” was established. It has grown enormously over the years, and has been followed by other groups focusing on the various aspects of grief at all ages.

With time Jo-Ann realized that grief needed its own venue, a safe haven where there were no ties to any organization or establishment, so in 1993 she founded OUR HOUSE, the first ever free-standing Grief Support Center. The center caters to everyone from 4 to 94, encompassing the entire age span of the family. Now, in 2014, there are Grief Support Centers all over the world.

Jo-Ann’s work has been recognized in numerous publications, including The Los Angeles Times, The Jewish Journal, Time Magazine, People. In 1998 she received the National Philanthropy Award from the Spirit of Giving organization, and in 2002 she received the Vision in Philanthropy Award from the Our House Grief Support Center.

Tears and Tequila, written with co-author Linda Schreyer, is Jo-Ann’s first novel.