Trude Heller, widow of former Greenville Mayor Max Heller, died Tuesday, May 11, according to an obituary from the Thomas McAfee funeral home.
According to her obituary, Heller, nee Schonthal, was 98 and lived at the Woodlands at Furman. She was born in 1922 in Vienna, Austria but fled to the United States in 1940 to escape Nazi oppression.
💚 City of Greenville elected officials & staff were saddened to learn of the passing of Trude Heller, wife of Max Heller, who served as Greenville’s mayor from 1971-1979.
“Everyone loved Trude,” said @MayorKnoxWhite. “… Greenville was richly blessed by her embrace.” pic.twitter.com/h45EdPJJvq
— City of Greenville (@CityGreenville) May 12, 2021
She married Max Heller in Greenville in 1942, according to a report published by the Journal at the time of Max’s death in 2011. They were married 69 years.
Mayor Knox White, who has credited Max Heller’s determination with downtown’s slow – but steady – resurgence, said Trude Heller never missed a chance to encourage others and listen to their stories.
“Everyone loved Trude … Greenville was richly blessed by her embrace,” he said in a statement.
