Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - The first joke Gilbert Gottfried remembers making is when he was on his couch at about 4 years old. "When does the roller coaster start?" he recounts himself saying in his memoir "Rubber Balls and Liquor." It may not have seemed so funny then, but give it time. The legendary comedian had a brilliant and bumpy ride of ups and down. Gottfried was irreverent, hysterical, controversial, and if you saw his act, you'd hear big laughs mixed with murmurs by audience members wondering if he'd...
(JTA) - Estelle Harris, the Jewish actress who played George Costanza's mother on the sitcom "Seinfeld," died Saturday at the age of 93. Harris played the role of Estelle Costanza, the always shrill and frequently apoplectic mother to George Costanza, on the sitcom from 1992 until the show's finale in 1998. According to Deadline, the character of George's mother was named Estelle before Harris landed the part - but her name wasn't the only thing Harris shared with her onscreen character. "I'm...
Sara Snyder Epstein, of Sanford, Fla., died in her sleep on April 2, 2022. She was 102. Sara was born on June 1, 1919, in Annapolis, Md., to Benjamin and Yetta (Farber) Snyder. When Sara was five, the family moved to Easton, Md. She attended State Teacher College at Townson, 1936-1937. After completing secretarial school at Strayer Business College, she worked at Cat's Paw Rubber Company in Baltimore, 1938-1940. She worked in the Panama Canal Building in Washington, D.C., 1940-1943. She became...
Dr. Irene Moss Lober, a resident of Lake Mary, passed away on March 28, 2022. A daughter of Brooklyn, Irene was one of five children raised by loving parents Beckie (Belanka) and David Moss. She was predeceased by her siblings, Albert, Caroline, Louis and Harold. She met the love of her life, Sol, while selling war bonds in the City College of New York cafeteria when Sol returned from WWII to study on the GI bill. He knew from the moment he met her that she was his intended and proposed six weeks later. They were married for 66 years before...
(JNS) - Madeleine Albright, the first woman to hold the position of U.S. secretary of state, has died of cancer at the age of 84. A statement posted on Twitter said that Albright was "surrounded by family and friends" and that she was "a loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend," as well as a "tireless champion of democracy and human rights." Born Marie Jana Korbelova in Prague-then Czechoslovakia in 1937-she came to the United States as a refugee in 1948. She eventually rose to the...
Jim Rosenblum, of Ocoee, Fla., died unexpectedly on Jan. 22, 2022, from complications of cancer and chemotherapy, at the age of 73. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on Feb. 7, 1948, to Earl and Liese (Grad) Rosenblum, Jim was raised in Lexington, Mass. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1970, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and French, and attained his Master of Arts degree in Music Composition from the City University of New York in 1972. Jim's love of adventure and music took him to Pari...
An avid traveler, Marla Lynn Sinert, passed away just five weeks after returning from a trip to the Azores. With her husband of 45 years, Merrill, and daughter Molly by her side, Marla, 66, departed this life peacefully after a brief unexpected battle with cancer on March 25, 2022. Marla was a lighthearted and kind wife, mother, sister and daughter. She loved her "Grand Pups" and was a friend to all animals. She often wore colorful tie-dye, which matched her bright personality. She found great...
Miriam Machela Apfel, age 97, of The Villages, Florida, passed away on Saturday, March 5, 2022. A Holocaust survivor, loving wife, mother of two, grandmother of three, and great-grandmother of four, Miriam was born in Poland on March 6, 1924, as the youngest of seven children to Bracha and Motle Levental. Twelve-year-old Miriam was preparing for the first day of her new school year in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Separated from her family and taken to a labor camp, Miriam survived the Holocaust while much of her family did not. While in...
Raynelda Doris Sunshine, passed peacefully at The Mayflower Winter Park Florida on Monday, March 7, 2022. Raynelda known as Doris, was born in Liberty County, West Virginia, to Homer L. Asbury and Roberta Susanne Asbury on March 11, 1922. She had five siblings that all predeceased her. She grew up on a farm in the countryside and in 1953, she met the love of her life, Herbert Sunshine, with whom she was married for 55 years and raised seven children — Ann Thornburg (deceased), James Sunshine, Larry Sunshine (deceased), Ramona Sunshine, Dana S...
Edwin Joel Leffler, 82, of Winter Park, Fla., passed away on Feb. 22, 2022. Ed was born May 20, 1939, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Alfred Leffler, a Broadway Show ticket broker and Bertha Lashinsky. Ed graduated from Far Rockaway High School in 1956, and from New York University in 1960, where he met Beverly Ann Greenberg, his wife of 60 years. After serving in the United States Air Force, Ed worked on Wall Street as a “market-maker” setting stock prices for Merrill Lynch for 10 years. Ed left to join his father-in-law, Sam Greenberg, in the ret...
Harry Louis Seligman, 76, of Sanford, Fla., passed away on March 2, 2022. Harry was born on Sept. 19,1945, in Chicago. Ill., but was raised in Shaw, Miss., by his loving parents, Dan and Bess Seligman. He was the oldest of three siblings - his sister, Linda Seligman (North Carolina) and his little brother, Mike Seligman (deceased). Harry eventually moved to Florida and had a long career in electronic sales. He met his wife, Arlene, on a blind date and was married for nearly 40 years. He helped...
(JNS) - Jewish producer and director Ivan Reitman died in his sleep on Saturday night at his home in Montecito, Calif., at the age of 75, his family told The Associated Press. "Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life," his three children said in a joint statement. "We take comfort that his work as a filmmaker brought laughter and happiness to countless others around the world. While we mourn privately, we hope those who knew him through his films will...
Richard Earl Gardner, age 75, of Apopka, Fla., passed away on Friday, Febr. 4, 2022. Richard was born to Harry and Mildred Gardner on April 15, 1946, in Newark, N.J. He served in the United States Marine Corps until he was honorably discharged in 1966. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Seton Hall University in 1968, and a JD from John Marshall Law School in 1975. He served as a volunteer paramedic for the Randolph, N.J., Rescue Squad and served with the N.J. State Police Marine Bureau on Lake Hopatcong. Richard...
Rodolfo "Rudy" Silvio Mingelgrun, 81, of Orlando, Florida, passed away on Jan. 21, 2022. Rudy was born in 1940 to John and Fritzi Mingelgrun in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is survived by his wife, Berta "Silvia" Mingelgrun, of 56 years; daughters, Sandra Glenn and Claudia Hopper; two grandsons, Zachary Turner and Jacob Hopper; 1 granddaughter, Sara Glenn; 1 great-granddaughter, Astrid Turner; and his sister, Susana and her husband Rory Brown of Miami, Florida. He also has several nieces and...
(JTA) — Esther Pollard, who spent decades fighting to see her husband live free in Israel after being convicted for spying on the United States, has died at 68. Pollard died in Jerusalem Monday from complications related to the coronavirus, the Times of Israel reported. She had also been battling breast cancer. Pollard, née Elaine Zeitz, became acquainted with her husband while leading the Canadian branch of the movement for his release. They married at Butner prison, in North Carolina, in 1994, and she assumed leadership of the worldwide mo...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) - Michael Lang, the Jewish co-creator of 1969's legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair, died on Saturday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital in Manhattan. He was 77. The cause, according to a family spokesperson, was a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A concert promoter who was just 24 at the time, he was one of several Jewish collaborators who made the generation-defining festival, billed as "Three Days of Peace and Music," happen. Other key players included...
(JTA) - Bob Saget, the comedian and actor famous for playing a wholesome sitcom father figure but who never lost his flair for raunchy comedy, has died at 65. Saget died shortly after performing in Orlando, where he had delivered a show with his trademark mashup of dark humor and dad jokes that he first developed while misbehaving in Hebrew school. Saget was found dead in his hotel room in Orlando. The cause of his death is unknown but police do not suspect drugs or foul play. Beth Shalom...
Sally Dreyer Lessure passed away on Jan. 3, 2022, in Orlando. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan on Jan. 18, 1927, the daughter of Jake and Reva Dreyer. Sally lived her adult life and raised her family in Cincinnati. She was happily married to Louis Lessure for 65 years. They were ballroom dancers and loved to dance and travel. Sally taught deaf children at Clifton School and Hamilton County Schools for over 50 years. She enjoyed cooking and baking, and her home was always a place for friends...
(JTA) - Peter Bogdanovich, the Oscar-nominated movie director and actor whose films, ego and off-camera exploits encapsulated the personality-driven excesses of 1970s Hollywood filmmaking, has died at 82. His death was announced Jan. 6 and first reported by Variety. Bogdanovich's mother, Herma Bogdanovich, was an Austrian Jew. His father, Borislav Bogdanovich, was an Orthodox Christian painter from the former Yugoslavia who, according to the family lore, gave up his art career in order to secure...
(JTA) - Desmond Tutu, the archbishop who identified closely with the historical suffering of the Jewish people in his forceful advocacy against apartheid in South Africa, died Sunday at age 90. Tutu, the first Black archbishop of Cape Town, used his role as a church leader to bring religion into the fight against apartheid, South Africa's repressive system of racial segregation. Advocating for nonviolence and, later, restorative justice, Tutu gained renown far beyond South Africa, earning a...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - When Harry Reid was 19, he wanted to marry Landra Gould. Her Jewish parents had other ideas. Reid, a middleweight boxer who converted to the Church of Latter-day Saints as a college student, got into a fistfight with Gould's father in her front yard. And then he and Landra eloped. Reid's pugilistic sensibility served him well in politics, lifting him up from abject poverty in Nevada on to Congress, where he became the Democratic Party's Senate majority leader. He helped...
Sheldon M. Blattner, 91, passed away on Dec. 16, 2021. He was born on Aug. 2, 1930, in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a celebrated athlete in his youth and earned the nickname "Herky" (Hercules). He was accomplished in multiple sports and earned many trophies for his athletic prowess. He was a hard worker and was in the scrap metal business for the majority of his life. He founded Blattner Metals/Metal Recyclers in 1978, and continued to manage the day-to-day operations until the age of 89....
Jeffrey J.Halperin was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Aug. 19,1942, and died on Dec. 17, 2021. He was pre-deceased by his parents, Bernard and Ruth Halperin and a sister, Diane Halperin Brown. Jeff leaves his loving wife of 45 years, Eleanor (Ellie) Halperin and three children - daughters Jessica J. Recksiedler, Janis L. Mauer and son, Jeffrey S. Livson; along with four grandchildren - Vaughn and Cole Mauer and Jaclyn and Julianna Recksiedler. He also leaves a sister, Gail Vogler from Pittsburgh, and...
Dr. Morton Arthur Diamond, FACC, FACP, beloved father of Dr. David and Orly Diamond of Winter Park, passed away peacefully at his home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, on Dec. 16, 2021, aged 83. Born in Monticello, N.Y., on June 17, 1938, to the late Paul and Ann Diamond, he was raised in the Village of Wurtsboro, population 300, where the extended Diamond family, having immigrated from Nezhin, Ukraine, resided since the purchase of the family farm by his grandfather (Solomon Diamond) on Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12, 1912. He was immensely proud of his r...
Submitted by the family On Dec. 13, 2021, Sonia Margolis Mandell (known to friends as "Sunny" or family as "Ma"), a beloved wife, mother, and Jewish community leader, passed away peacefully surrounded by several generations of loved ones in her condo in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. She was born Jan. 27,1927. The most important part of her life, as she describes in a memoir, written for her grandchildren, began when a debonair Brooklyn native and WWII vet named Lester Mandell asked her on a date within...
