Sylvia Heschel, wife of the late theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel, died March 26 in New York City. She was 94.

Born Sylvia Straus in Philadelphia and raised in Cleveland, Heschel was a classically trained pianist who taught and performed in New York, the Associated Press reported. She was sometimes credited with inspiring her husband’s passion for music.

The couple met during World War II in Cincinnati, said their daughter, Susannah Heschel, a professor of Jewish studies at Dartmouth College. “They were both at a dinner party and my mother was asked to play,” she said. “She played and he fell in love with her.” They married in 1946.

Her funeral was held in New York City. — jta