Our dear Viviana passed away at age 77, unexpectedly in Rome, Italy, on Oct. 29, 2024.
Beloved mother of Alexis Khazzam (Elizabeth Leiter), treasured Grandmother of Nicholas, Stella Grace and Matteo Khazzam. Dear sister of Micaela Goren Monti and James Goren (Manuela Cerri) and the late Alex Goren (Brooke Kroeger). Daughter of the late Stella Cukier-Goren and the late Avrum (Dolphy) Goldstein-Goren of Milan, Italy, who for decades were prominent benefactors of Jewish institutions in Israel and Italy.
She will be greatly missed by her large family of nephews, nieces, cousins, great-nephews, great-nieces, and friends around the globe.
Viviana was born in Milano, Italy on Sept. 15, 1947. Although her time was cut short, she lived a full and dynamic life traveling the globe and living in her most cherished places; Rome, Lugano and Symi while making memories with her son, his wife and her beloved grandchildren. She loved swimming, (very) long walks and conversing with anyone who could keep up with her.
She was driven by passion, curiosity and above all a deep love for mankind. She will live forever in the hearts and souls of all those she touched, enriching family and friends with her deep knowledge of culture, the arts, history, science and, most recently—longevity.
Viviana was a well-known journalist, a scientific and cultural communicator, a creator and promoter of international events and initiatives of great importance in the fields of music, religion and science.
By profession, Viviana was a journalist who wrote for Corriere Della Sera for over 30 years while also working for RAI television and radio and The RCS group. Fiercely advocating for women’s rights, her passion for writing and research expanded her boundaries of influence and during her illustrious career was awarded numerous honours which included; becoming a Knight of the Italian Republic, founding BrainCircleItalia, founding The Milano Longevity Summit, being awarded the title of Honorary Fellowship and vice-presidency of the Federica Spitzer Foundation in Lugano. She was a Governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she recently was awarded an honorary doctorate. In her early years she helped found Canale 5 for Silvio Berlusconi (media mogul and ex-Italian Prime Minister) with the award-winning show Tabú, where she interviewed prominent EU personalities and politicians.
In 2010, together with Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini, she founded the non-profit association BrainCircleItalia (BCI) to disseminate knowledge of the most cutting-edge scientific and brain research in the world through the Brain Forum productions. She organized major events which supported public institutions such as the Italian Government, the Vatican and the Union of Italian Jewish communities. She was internationally recognized for endeavours such as Festa della Musica producing 200 concerts in a week throughout the city to promote the integration of ethnic communities. Her Brainforums of 2010-2014 saw the participation of the greatest brain researchers at the national and the international level accompanied by an exhibition “Il Colore del Pensiero” (“The Colour of Thought”) which illustrated the innate beauty of the brain by presenting neuroimages as huge contemporary art pieces, which were exhibited open-air for a month in Milan and later in Lisbon, Deauville, Paris.
In 2014 for the Holocaust remembrance she organized a three-year series starting with “Violini della Speranza” (“Violins of Hope”) in which Francesco Lotoro starred and Viviana was honoured by Pope Francis and by the Italian premier. The event was repeated in 2015 by the Berliner Philarmoniker in Berlin, conducted by Simon Rattle, in the presence of the German Parliament and Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. For this concert, the State of Israel issued a commemorative stamp.
Notably, she sat on the scientific committee of the Prada Foundation and collaborated with the University Tor Vergata in Rome in the design and management of the laboratory of Communicating Science, created as part of the activities of the Degree Course in Information, Communication and Publishing Sciences.
Viviana had an endless appetite for exploration and learning, she had an eclectic personality, and a brilliant and passionate mind and won numerous awards for her work in both journalism and television, including the Giardini Naxos Award, the Guidarello, the Italia Award, the Onda TV Award, the Donne d’Europa Award and the Venezia Award.
Regardless of the project, her primary motivation was a deep love for humanity and a desire to better the human experience. We have no doubt that the work she started will be carried out by all those who come after her.
While she has made her mark in the professional sphere as a formidable Italian icon, when people remember Viviana they will think of her kindness, softness and the endless amount of love that poured from her each and every day.
May her memory be a blessing!
