Naples entrepreneur Elisabeth Nassberg remembered as go-getter, giver

Elisabeth Nassberg had a special power.

It was a power that drew others to her — a power that made her successful in business and life. 

Her father, Dan Zeidman, remembers it as "kind of a personal power" that she had since she was a little girl. It made it easy for her to make friends from the time she was a toddler playing at the park to her last days battling cancer at a hospital. 

Nassberg died Monday. She was 42. 

A visitation Wednesday at Hodges Funeral Home at Naples Memorial Gardens brought out the many people she touched in life and in business. Friends and family described her as a driven woman, a loving mother, a giver, a best friend and a beautiful woman inside and out.

"She was always really ambitious and a leader, from the time she was a toddler," her mother, Sandi Zeidman, said. "She was full of ideas. Wherever she was — in school, in college, at work — she was doing innovative things."

Nassberg owned Just Like Family Home Care and Concierge Medical Transport in Naples.

In September 2010, Just Like Family Home Care, a referral service that matches clients with caregivers, received national recognition, winning the SCORE Award for Outstanding Majority Women-Owned Business.

SCORE offers free counseling, primarily by retired executives, to small businesses. Nassberg found help from the local chapter of the nonprofit organization after starting her home care business in 2006 with her husband, Jacob, and a female partner who no longer is involved. 

Chick Heithaus, the SCORE counselor who worked with the Nassbergs, remembers the difficulty starting the business because there was so little money to get it going. The couple sold much of what they owned and moved from Florida's east coast, arriving here before the Great Recession with a baby in tow.

Heithaus helped the business navigate through the recession and stuck by it when others — including his fellow counselors — questioned whether it could succeed. He knew it would succeed because Elisabeth Nassberg was a "don't give up type," he said.

Elisabeth Nassberg didn't just put family in the name and philosophy of her home care business. She  involved her parents and her aunt, as well as her husband, who will continue to carry on her vision.

The company has built a network of more than 600 providers who operate as independent contractors and provide help with daily living, which can mean everything from getting dressed to walking pets to giving injections. 

Elisabeth Nassberg's parents relocated from upstate New York to help her with the business, believing it would succeed if she was behind it, although she and her husband had no connections here.

"They knew no one," Sandi Zeidman said. "They just picked Naples and built it up from there." 

Elisabeth Nassberg knew the home health care business before starting her own because she had managed one herself.

Starting out in a 10-by-12-foot room, the company has moved its offices several times to keep up with its growth. 

In 2013, Elisabeth Nassberg landed on the Business Observer's "40 Under 40" list, which highlights young leaders. 

In 2015 she founded a second business, Concierge Medical Transport Services, to help with hospital discharges, skilled nursing appointments and other patient transfers.

She realized the need for it from dealing with the clients of her other business.

The new company has been growing in Collier County and preparing to expand into Lee County with its fleet of green and black vans. The service operates 24/7.

Elisabeth Nassberg's path toward entrepreneurship began at a young age. Growing up in Averill Park, New York, she put on circus acts and plays, charging admission. She set up lemonade stands and organized garage sales to earn a little money.

In college she opened a video store on campus. She graduated from the State University of New York at Oneonta, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business economics.

Although Elisabeth Nassberg was driven, she had a soft side that drew people in. Many friends considered her a best friend, including Nannette Staropoli, owner of Markit Group, a Naples-based digital marketing and public relations firm. The two met about seven years ago. 

"It's just that immediate connection of energy and soulfulness and love," Staropoli said. "She was joyful and she was absolutely brilliant."

While she was "stunningly beautiful" on the outside, you instantly felt her internal beauty, Staropoli said. 

In a little over a decade, Elisabeth Nassberg made her mark on Naples in other ways. She gave back to the community even when her business was struggling to land on its feet and to make it through the Great Recession.

The charities she's supported include the Greater Naples YMCA, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the Pace Center for Girls at Immokalee in Collier County.

She has been named the honorary chairwoman of this year's "Love that Dress" shopping-spree fundraiser for the Pace Center, which offers services for girls who are at risk of dropping out of school, getting pregnant, doing drugs or running into trouble with the law. 

"Anytime I was involved with something she would support it," Staropoli said. "She definitely had a passion for children, girls and seniors."

Elisabeth Nassberg, she said, was also an amazing, loving mother to her two sons Joshua, 12, and Noah, 14. She was very involved in their lives.

"Even at the end and through her illness, she remained positive," Staropoli said. "She always worried about everybody else." 

Elisabeth Nassberg came from a close family. The oldest of three children, she is survived by her brother David Zeidman, her sister Aryn Zev and niece Zara Zev.

"Lis had incredible love for her family, and her courage and vision continually amazed us. Her friends and community were truly just like family," Aryn Zev said. "She built lasting connections and a network of care that will continue to touch our lives for years to come."

Elisabeth Nassberg also is survived by her grandmother Roslyn Zeidman, 94, and her partner, Chuck Bacon. She has four maternal aunts and an uncle.

A celebration of life in "Lis fashion" with dancing and music is planned, but a date has not been set yet.