Janet Kotler

Janet Kotler, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, passed away on June 7, 2022 at the age of 77. 

Janet was born on December 20, 1944 in Moscow, Russia (at the time, the Soviet Union) to Henry and Esther Rigerman, two idealistic American expatriates. In 1987, Janet traveled to New York to visit Esther, who had returned home in the meantime. Disillusioned with Communism and energized by her first glance of life outside the Iron Curtain, Janet went on to conquer geopolitics and the bureaucracies of two countries to bring her husband and daughter to America.

She worked for many years at the Washington Processing Center (later, the Refugee Processing Center), a contractor to the U.S. State Department. To her last day, she keenly felt the irony and the blessing of making a career in helping others immigrate to the United States.

Janet found joy in traveling, good food, photography, classical music, but above all, in human relationships. She loved people -- including her grandchildren, her newfound American family and her friends, old and new.

Janet was preceded in death by her husband, Vladimir Kotler. She is survived by her daughter, Marie (Masha) Cochran, her husband Dewey, and their three children: Jacob, Sara and Danny, as well as by her brother Arie Leib Rigerman and family.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, June 12, 2022, between 1-3 pm, at the Everly Funeral Home in Falls Church, VA.

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