Adele Soffa

Adele “Dellie” Nassief Soffa was born on August 1, 1931 in Los Angeles, California, the second child of Elias and Lena Nassief. Her father emigrated from Lebanon with his family while her mother was born in Los Angeles to Lebanese immigrants. Along with her older brother, Philip, Adele grew up working in her parents’ grocery store in downtown Los Angeles on Avila Street, about twenty feet below and just a few steps away from Union Station. Adele was trilingual, learning English and Arabic from her parents and Spanish from their customers. Barely tall enough to see over the counter, she was a natural born saleswoman, enjoying waiting on customers in the tiny store by telling them what and how much they needed to buy, a skill that would serve her well throughout her life. “I loved the business aspect of it, the ordering, counting the money,” she said. “I liked the action, just the activity of it.”

Adele had a larger-than-life personality and an uncompromising work ethic that went with it. She not only took pride in her work at the store, but in her remarkable ability to toss bottles of milk, soda, and beer up the twenty-foot wall to customers on the train platform above, often soldiers awaiting the troop trains that would carry them off to World War II. The key, she would later explain with her usual wonderful cackling laugh, was to toss the bottles in such a way that they would land softly in the customers’ hands on the way up while avoid smashing the bottles against the wall. Like her business career that was to follow, there was an art to it.

When Adele was very young, she and her family moved to Alhambra where she attended Ramona Elementary School and Mark Keppel High School. After graduating high school in 1949, Adele earned an AA degree from Pasadena City College and was off to work in retail which seemed to be in her blood. She worked for Gallenkamp Shoes, moving up from salesperson to store manager. She earned her big break when she landed a job at The Broadway Department Store. For the next fifteen years at the company, she advanced from sales to the buying office, and eventually to vice-president. There was no secret to her success, she simply soaked up all the knowledge she could from those willing to mentor her and then worked harder than everyone else. Long before “24/7” became a common term, Adele would often say in order to succeed, “You have to work 25 hours a day, eight days a week, thirteen months out of the year.” And somehow, she did.

However, it wasn’t all business. In 1961, she married the love of her life, Robert (Bob) Soffa, an electrical engineer, and they eventually settled in San Gabriel. He was quiet and introspective which complemented her outgoing nature beautifully. “I am a pessimist, Bob was an optimist,” she once revealed. “He knew there was a pony in there somewhere!” They may have had opposite personalities, but they shared the same work ethic and drive to succeed which led them to their next chapter, owning their own businesses. In 1979, she and business partner Joyce Searls founded Adele Joyce, a company that designed, manufactured, and distributed women’s sweaters. Bob and Adele purchased a warehouse in Commerce with Bob running his company, Soffa Electric, out of one half and Adele running her company out of the other. Both were a financial success, but that was not the only goal. “The interest was more in operating it successfully than making money,” she said. “Between his optimism, my drive, and his persistence, that’s what did it.”

In 1980, they moved to San Marino where they would reside the rest of their lives. They thoroughly enjoyed building their businesses, spending as much time at the office together as they did at home. They were inseparable throughout their 30 years of marriage until Bob tragically passed away after a short illness in 1991. Adele ran Soffa Electric for the next twenty years until her own health issues led to her retirement. Most who knew her thought that business was her life, but those who knew her best understood there was more to her than that. Above all she treasured the moments spent with family, especially those times crammed around the kitchen table, elbow-to-elbow with her brother, two sisters, and their spouses, and later her seven nieces and nephews, eating, telling stories and laughing themselves silly at family dinners on Sunday. When thinking about her life, it always came back to her childhood which she described as a magical time. “I think we had a great life,” she remembered. “We were never alone, always with someone who cared about us.” Her grandmothers and aunts were always there for her and Philip who were the only children in the family at the time. “We would open our mouth, and they would put something in it, or carry us, or provide for us. And it isn’t that we had a lot of material things, just sustenance things, hugging you, playing with you, spending time with you. It was their time in life because they had time with us. I can’t imagine other children not growing up that way. It was a very precious time.” She did her best to provide that kind of experience for her nieces and nephews in her own way. When she talked with them, she was laser-focused on the conversation, listening, advising, and asking what they thought. She gladly gave them her most precious possession, her time.

Adele and Bob were generous supporters of many charities including St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral and the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. They were also instrumental in the establishment of The Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a philanthropic organization benefitting youth, clergy and their families, seminarians, and those in need.

Adele will be remembered by family and friends as a true force of nature, a trailblazer in the business world, and for her relentlessness, generosity, humor, and love of ice cream. She is survived by her brother, Philip Nassief, her sisters, Joyce Nassief Simon and Carole Nassief Wong, her seven nieces and nephews, 15 great-nieces and nephews, many cousins, and dear friend and business partner, Joyce Searls. Her funeral service will be held on September 17, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, 2300 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, 90057. Interment to follow at Forest Lawn, Glendale. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made to St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral. May Adele’s memory be eternal.