Julia S. Landau

Julia “Julie” Shadix Landau of Ridgefield, CT, passed away peacefully in hospice at home on Sunday, October 20, 2024. She was comforted by family, homecare aids from Visiting Angels of Fairfield County, and hospice care workers from Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association while surrounded by her favorite hummingbird figurines inside and beautiful trees outside her window. 

Born in Atlanta, GA, on June 2, 1948, she was the oldest of three daughters of Mary Louise Stroud Shadix and Ralph Lunney Shadix, Jr. The Shadix family moved to New Orleans, LA, during her childhood, where she took dance lessons and sang with her sister Laura. Julie attended Benjamin Franklin High School, a selective magnet school where she met and started dating her future husband, Julian Landau. There she was captain of the cheerleading team. Julie and Julian graduated as high school sweethearts but enrolled in different colleges further away from each other before transferring to be closer. Julie initially attended Louisiana State University and then earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (magna cum laude) from the University of New Orleans after Julian transferred to Tulane University. They got married at the age of 21 while both completing their senior years of college.

Over the next 35+ years, Julie and Julian relocated several times across the country for graduate school and jobs at the same time that they raised a family. In Berkeley, CA while Julian attended the University of California at Berkeley and was later employed in the Bay Area, their son, Jeffrey Brian Landau, and daughter Jamie Christine Landau, were born. However, Julie wanted a career identity beyond the roles of a mother and a housewife so she started taking graduate classes in Career Development, what was then a relatively unknown specialized field of study. She continued this coursework at the College of New Rochelle in New York when the family moved to Chappaqua, NY after Julian accepted a new job on the East Coast. Julie graduated with a Master’s degree in Career Development and worked full-time in career services that exploded in significance for all industries. She was once an employment recruiter for Gannett Newspapers, one of the largest newspaper chains in the nation. Eventually she was hired for executive-level positions at boutique and major career counseling firms, first the Greenwich Group and later Lee Hecht Harrison, Right Management Consultants, and Louis Dreyfus Commodities when the family relocated to Granger, IN, and ultimately settled in 1992 in Ridgefield, CT.

Like many in society still today, Julie struggled to juggle her passion for her profession while being a wife and a mother. As a result, she instilled in her daughter the same drive for higher education, career success, and independence. She volunteered for the American Association of University Women and other career professional programs. When she was not working, Julie traveled domestically and internationally with family for pleasure, over the holidays, and in retirement as snowbirds going back and forth from the Northeast to the South. Her favorite trips were to Greece with her son, and with her husband to Orcas Island near Seattle, Alaska, Hawaii, and Japan. Her love for New Orleans culture, food, and drink meant you could frequently find her at the Mardi Gras parades or with a frozen daiquiri in her hand. Julie and Julian reconnected often with friends from their youth in New Orleans, even planning multiple high school reunions. Julie and Julian celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary in 2024. 

Julie always had a song in her heart, humming when she shopped or cleaned the house. She was drawn to birds more as she grew older, especially hummingbirds, great blue herons, and white egrets. She sought relaxation in muscle and mind with massages and floating in her pool and bathtub. Even when suffering from Parkinson’s disease in her final years, Julie reveled in dancing and singing to music to move her body and feel full of life.

In addition to her husband, closest surviving family include her sister Laura Singletary and husband Elton Singletary of Kill Devil Hills, NC, and their son Jake; her youngest sister Tina Roddenbery and brother-in-law Hansell Roddenbery of Atlanta, GA, and their daughter Megan and son Julien; her son Jeffrey Landau and daughter-in-law Sangeeta Landau of San Francisco, CA, and granddaughter Sophia and grandson Luke; her daughter Jamie Landau and son-in-law Drew Hess of Lake Park, GA; her sisters-and-brothers-in-laws Jean Hearst and Dan Graf of Virginia Beach, VA, and Melanie Landau and Charlie Atherton of Livingston, TX; and her other nephews and nieces Mike Hearst, Kelly Eudailey and their son of Brooklyn, NY, and Ben Hearst, Leora Radding, and their daughters of Naples, FL. Her parents and parents-in-law preceded her in death.

At later dates, memorials will occur in Ridgefield, CT and in New Orleans, LA. Donations in honor of Julie may be made to the National Audubon Society. Kane Funeral Home is in care of arrangements.

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