Betty was born in Montreal, Quebec, to parents who had met at the University of Lviv. She and her husband Irv lived in Montreal before moving to the U.K. where Irv did graduate work in Engineering. In 1968 they moved to Vancouver, where Betty became involved in synagogue life. They moved to Edmonton for two years in 1976–1978 where she served as President of the Sisterhood of the Conservative Congregation. After returning to Vancouver, Betty became involved in the National Council of Jewish Women and in the 1970s was chair of the local Committee for Soviet Jewry. Two decades later, she volunteered to help settle Bosnian refugee families in Vancouver.

Betty’s greatest love and commitment was for her family: husband Irv, son Elliot, daughter Lisa, son-in-law Michael and grandson Joseph. Her other great passion was Jewish education, especially Jewish adult education. Betty often made up for the lack of local resources by working long hours—mostly as a volunteer—to enrich Vancouver’s Jewish community. In the 1980s and 1990s, she ran the Jewish Resource Centre and in the early 21^st century was the Coordinator of Adult programming at the Jewish Community Centre. She was also responsible for organizing and directing the Melton Adult Education programme. Betty was a central figure in establishing Limmud—a worldwide festival of Jewish learning—in Vancouver. According to co-organizer Avi Dolgin, “Without Betty’s energies and connections those first years, there never would have been a Limmud Vancouver.”

In Betty’s memory, the family has established the Betty Nitkin Memorial Fund to enable her legacy to live on. The fund will bring guest speakers on the history of the modern Jewish experience to the University of British Columbia.