Sylvia was born in New York, the daughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe. She grew up during the Great Depression and lived in Brooklyn most of her life.
She wanted an education. So she worked during the day and studied at Hunter College at night, until she had her degree.
She wished she had gone to law school. At her memorial, speakers said she would have made an excellent lawyer.
Instead, she spent her life working for lawyers.
She married Raymond Margolies, but she kept her own name. She was, her family said, independent-minded. They had no children.
And she never stopped working.
That is why, at 96, she was walking through a snowstorm to the office. To her, there was nowhere else she should be.
When she finally retired, she moved to a senior residence. Mainly, a cousin said, because "she wanted to find a good bridge game."
She died in 2016.