Anyone who ever met Shelley Lev Wiseman Kelly — who liked to jokingly call herself “Shelley Kelly in the Deli” — is likely never to forget her welcoming, gracious manner, infectious smile and love of a good nosh.
Kelly, owner of the now-defunct Edmart Deli in Pikesville, passed away on Wednesday, Sept. 25. The downtown Baltimore resident, who formerly lived in Pikesville, was 73.
A Baltimore native, 1969 graduate of Pikesville High School and Beth El congregant, Kelly grew up working at Edmart alongside her parents, Martin F. Lev and Ruth Adler Lev. Located on “downtown” Pikesville’s main street, Edmart was founded in 1958 by Martin Lev and his business partner, Eddie Stern. They named it Edmart, a portmanteau of Eddie and Martin, and Stern eventually sold his share of the business to Lev.
Lev passed away in January of 2008, while his wife died five years later. (Kelly was the third generation of her family in the food business. Martin Lev’s father, Carl, co-founded the popular and well-remembered Sussman and Lev’s delicatessen, which operated in East Baltimore from 1926 to 1956.)
Kelly left home to attend the University of Maryland, College Park, and after graduation married Michael Wiseman, a veterinarian. After raising their children, Kelly worked as a field coordinator for Na’amat USA, an organization that provides educational and social services for women, children and families in Israel.
When her father was short-staffed at the deli in 2000, Kelly filled in. Though the job was supposed to be only temporary, she enjoyed the work so much that she never left the business.
In 2004, tragedy struck when Michael Wiseman died of a heart attack. A year-and-a-half later, Kelly met her second husband, David Kelly, at a health club.
Edmart, which closed in late December of 2019, was a favorite among local delicatessen lovers, especially for its unique edible offerings, holiday meals and shiva trays.
The 900-square-foot deli and gourmet and specialty foods store, located at 1427 Reisterstown Road, was featured on the Food Network and known for its corned beef and pastrami, as well as the folksy friendliness of Kelly.
“Days go by quickly, the work is exciting, and I never know who will be coming into the store,” Kelly said in a 2017 Jmore profile of Edmart.
Kelly said she considered her Edmart employees and customers to be part of her own family.
“They had delicious deli, and I really liked the personal service/attention by Shelley,” customer Jack Zager told Jmore in 2019. “She was always so sweet and could never do enough for her customers. She also often threw in a little treat with your order, which was a nice touch and something you just don’t see much anymore.”
Popular Edmart items included salami, brisket, white fish salad, halvah, lox, chopped liver, chopped herring and different varieties of cream cheese. A“kosher-style” establishment with a small dining area, the store sold kosher meats, bagels from Goldberg’s New York Bagels and challah from Rosendorff’s Bakery.
Edmart’s brisket sandwiches were lavishly praised in the media by Duff Goldman, proprietor of Charm City Cakes and a Food Network star.
In 2019, Ted Merwin, author of “Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli” (NYU Press), said Edmart was “emblematic of the mom-and-pop businesses that were such a fixture of the urban and suburban streetscape. The rise of chain stores and franchises have almost completely obliterated these [businesses]. … As an eatery that serves a wide variety of kosher meat but not under rabbinical supervision (which is common these days in Israel but quite rare in America), Edmart was a throwback to an earlier era in which more non-Orthodox Jews were willing to pay a premium for kosher beef and poultry.”
In the 1998 documentary “Divine Food: 100 Years in the Kosher Delicatessen Trade,” L. John Harris, a California cookbook author and food writer, described Edmart as “a neighborhood store that is not so much a place to sit and eat, but to go and get.”
Since taking over the business, Kelly frequently attended food shows and conventions around the country, bringing back samples of new products to share with staff and customers.
“I worked with Shelley for six years at the deli until its closing and enjoyed every single day,” former Edmart employee Steven Gordon wrote on the memorial page of Sol Levinson & Bros. “Shelley was a warm and generous person.”
In 2019, Kelly said she was closing the deli to spend more time with her grandchildren in New Jersey, and because her rent was increased significantly.
“Business has been OK lately, but my rent was raised,” she said. “I’ve been struggling with this for a while, but I know it’s the right thing to do.”
Kelly is survived by her husband, David Kelly; daughter, Rachael (John) Colasante, and son, Charles Lev Wiseman; sister, Judy (Richard) Schlossberg; grandchildren, Luci Colasante, Ruby Colasante, and Lily Colasante; and cousins, Ceil (Ronald) West, and Gail (Andrew) Quartner.
Funeral services will be held at Sol Levinson’s Chapel, 8900 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville on Friday, Sept. 27, at 1 p.m. Interment will be at Baltimore Hebrew Berrymans Lane Cemetery, 318 Berrymans Lane in Reisterstown.
Contributions in Kelly’s memory may be sent to Stella Maris Hospice, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road, Timonium, Maryland 21093.
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