Barbara August Braff

Barbara August Braff, 95, passed peacefully on February 26, 2026, at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida following a period of declining health. A former longtime resident of Greenfield, Massachusetts, she had made her home in Lake Mary, Florida, since 2024.

Born on May 12, 1930, in Beverly, Massachusetts, to Jack and Eva (Feinstein) August, Barbara moved with her family to Northampton as an infant. She graduated from Northampton High School in 1947, where she was active in the Varsity Drama Club and Choir, and later attended the University of Miami. In 1950 she married Richard F. “Dick” Braff of Greenfield, a whirlwind romance that blossomed after only two dates into a devoted partnership of nearly seventy years.

Together with Dick, Barbara co-owned and operated Braff’s Royl Cleaners in Greenfield for nearly five decades. She managed the business’s advertising, bookkeeping, and operations, and pursued additional training in management at Greenfield Community College. Deeply engaged in community life, she and Dick hosted the local radio program “Community Chatter” on WHAI and the Chamber of Commerce’s annual “Tourist Captives” event. Barbara performed in the “Junior Follies” to benefit Franklin Medical Center, served as president of the Ladies Aid at Temple Israel, taught kindergarten there, and co-wrote and starred in numerous temple musical productions.

Barbara is survived by her three children, Marti Hayes and Gary Braff of Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Ned Braff of Orlando, Florida; her grandchildren, Lee Hayes and Alaine Beaudette; and her nieces and nephews, Sarah Rebecca Moore, Barry Fogel, Robert Fogel, Deborah August, and Jonathan August, along with grandnieces and grandnephews Amy Mersky (Michael), Audrey Garro (Mark), Alan Chitoff, Jillian Mersky, and Jack Bernardrich Mersky. She was predeceased by her husband Richard F. Braff, her parents Jack and Eva August, her siblings Rita Fogel, Howard August, and Judy Moore, her niece Roberta Chitoff, and her nephew Paul Rich.