The newly established Susan Felice Owens Program for COVID-19 Vaccine Research at Mount Sinai Health System honors Susan Felice Owens, who, along with her mother, Marie (“Nene”) Felice, passed away from COVID-19 in late summer 2020.
Susan was a true angel: a former medical assistant and dialysis tech, a former elder caregiver, a dog advocate, someone who would give the shirt off her back. Most recently, she was Head Baker and CEO of Nene's Treats, a business she started with her daughter, Stefanie, her son, Kyle, and her daughter-in-law, Zibby, to spread Nene’s amazing crumb cakes around the country.
Born Susan Felice in New Jersey on June 24th, 1957, Susan was a true "Jersey girl" and Bruce Springsteen lover. She moved to Florida in the 1980s with her former husband, Bernard Owens, where Kyle played competitive junior tennis and Stef became a competitive horseback rider. They moved to Charleston when Kyle started working there. Recently, Susan and Nene had spent time back in Venice, FL, settling in Charlotte, NC.
Susan turned 60 the day of Kyle’s wedding to Zibby (formerly Zibby Schwarzman), who is on the board of Trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center. Susan embraced Zibby's four kids from a previous marriage as her grandchildren, doting on them, visiting often, Facetiming, plastering their pictures everywhere, and exuding true love for them.
After caring for her mother at home, not knowing that Nene had COVID, Susan contracted COVID herself and was admitted to the hospital with a raging fever, short-of-breath, the day after Nene passed away. She then spent three weeks in the hospital in Charlotte, followed by three weeks in the ICU at Duke University Medical Center. She went on a ventilator and ECMO machine, then on dialysis, before a stroke stopped her tremendous, strong will to fight and live.
In addition to Kyle and Stefanie, Susan leaves behind her brother Jimmy, her two beloved dogs, and many, many close friends, cousins, and loved ones. While this fund can’t bring Susan or Nene back, we hope it helps save other families from experiencing the pain and trauma we have experienced. We want to help bring COVID-19 to a halt.
To date, Mount Sinai has developed a vaccine that has successful in animal trials and is currently being tested for toxicology and other factors before submitting to the FDA for approval and undergoing human trials with 21 subjects.
Thank you for all of your unending support.