Miriam R. Michelson, business owner, volunteer

Miriam R. Michelson, 92, who co-owned and operated a car leasing business in Maryland with her husband and was a White House volunteer, died Oct. 22 at Casey House hospice in Rockville after a stroke.

Mrs. Michelson, a Bethesda resident, was co-owner of Arrow Leading Corp. in Mount Rainier from the 1960s to 1980s.

She did volunteer work at the White House under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and was on duty during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Her family said she was ordered out of the building and eventually made her way to the World Bank, where she found refuge.

Miriam Rosenberg was born in what is now Ukraine and grew up in Washington, where she was a graduate of Roosevelt High School. She attended George Washington University and, as a young woman, was a fashion buyer for the Hecht Co. department store.

Her husband, S. Mike Michelson, whom she married in 1942, died in 1981.

Survivors include two children, Judith Michelson of Bethesda and Sheldon Michelson of Leesburg.

- Adam Bernstein