Veteran radio personality and actress Shosh Atari passed away in her Tel Aviv apartment on Tuesday. She was 58 years old.
Radio presenter and television actress Shosh Atari, 1950-2008.
Photo: Courtesy
Atari had not answered her telephone for several hours and her sisters, Gali and Yona, went to her home worried, only to find her lifeless body.
Atari suffered from a kidney disease and had undergone a kidney transplant operation in recent years.
She will be laid to rest in the Yarkon Cemetary in Tel Aviv on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Atari was born in Rehovot to a family with seven children. At age fourteen she was sent together with her sister Gali, who is also an actress, to a boarding school. Already in her military service she began a radio career in Army Radio. Afterwards she worked in the Israeli television channel, then the only TV channel in the country.
Atari studied English in Cambridge and worked concurrently as a Hebrew teacher in the local Jewish community. Upon returning to Israel she worked as a presenter and musical editor in all of Israel Radio's stations.
Atari was a pioneer in presenting foreign popular music to Israeli listeners and is revered by many as "Israel's first deejay."
Her 1980s show Hadash, Hadish Umehudash [New, Modern and Polished] was many Israelis' portal into the world of pop music.
She also presented Pitzuhim, a game show that aired on Israeli television years before the advent of cable television inundated Israeli viewers with the format.
In 2004 Atari published a book, entitled Secrets and Lies.
During 2007 Atari returned to television in a dramatic role in the series Hakol Dvash [Everything's Hunky Dory], a successful drama which was slated to embark on a second season this summer.
Atari's co-star Yisrael Poliakov passed away earlier this year, and the show was expected to continue without him. Atari said continuing to film the show would be a fitting tribute to Poliakov.
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