Around 1974, Holtzmann, who aside
from a bout with measles when she was five was
never sick, was struck down by a virulent blood
disorder that nearly took her life.

She was cured by a therapeutic program devised
by Dr. Emanuel Revici, whose medical research
she had supported since 1953.
However, she did not adhere to the regimen of
diet and rest and was soon back at work,
prompting Revici to call her "a terrible patient."
"Fanny had no talent for sickness," concludes Berkman,
"her talent was for life."

On January 18, 1980, Holtzmann was awarded an
honorary doctorate of humane letters from
the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion in a bedside ceremony.
She died three weeks later, on February 7, of cancer.