Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 497
(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...
Israel lost a fearless warrior last Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, when Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, founder and president of the Hesder Yeshivat Nir Kiryat Arba and one of the pioneers of the renewed Jewish community of Hebron, passed away at the end of Shabbat after a brief illness. Thousands attended the 84-year-old's funeral in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron. Rabbi Waldman was born in Petah Tikva in 1937 to Rabbi Yoel and Dina Waldman. In 1940, his family moved to the United States, where, as a...
Submitted by the family It is with a heavy heart we face the passing of Jacqueline Greenblatt in the early morning hours of Dec.10, 2021, after 85 years of life. She was born on July 29, 1936, and was welcomed in the arms of our creator peacefully in her sleep after a long illness. Jackie was a loving wife and mother and is survived by George Greenblatt, her devoted husband of 65 years; sons, Bruce and Gary, and daughter, Frannie. She was blessed with three loving grandchildren — Rachel, Michael and Alex; and two great-grandchildren, Lily G...
Elli Mae Goodman, 3, of Orlando, Florida, died Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, in Aurora, Colorado. Elli was born Jan. 24, 2018, in Orlando, Florida. Elli is survived by her parents Michelle Lynn Goodman and Matthew Charles Gales of Orlando; brothers, Hunter Goodman and Ezra Goodman, both of Orlando; sister, Talia Goodman of Orlando; maternal grandparents, Debra and Tom Goodman; paternal grandparents, Wayne and Tina Gales, Laura and Ron Avery. Graveside services for Elli were held in the Pavilion of...
Gary Frederick Roth, Sr., 88, loving husband, father, grandfather and brother passed peacefully on Nov. 26, 2021. Gary was born in Fresno, Calif., on Aug. 10, 1933, to Frederick and Ann (Adolph) Roth. He grew up on the family-owned grape farm in Fresno. At 17, his thirst for adventure and sense of duty led him to enlist in the Navy. Gary was a second-generation Seabee and served one tour in Korea and three in Viet Nam. He retired in 1972 after 21 years of service, achieving the rank of senior...
The family of Chris Schafer notes with sadness his sudden and unexpected passing on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. Chris was the father of Temple Sinai members Hannah and Sarah Schafer. Chris will also be remembered by his parents, Linda (Sam) Sampieri, Ron (Suzanne) Schafer; his siblings, David (Liz) Schafer, Kim Hochstetler, Michael (Maryanne) Sampieri, and Nancy (Ruth) Sampieri, and his many nieces and nephews. Those wishing to express condolences may send a note of sympathy to Hannah and Sarah in care of Beth Schafer at 2358 Fairoaks Rd. Decatur,...
Joan Sharri Lowy Schwam, age 77, of Altamonte Springs, Florida, passed away on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, at the hospital with her children by her side. She was born on Aug. 25, 1944, in Brooklyn to Robert and Bella Lowy. On Dec. 25, 1944, in N.Y. she was married to the love of her life, Martin Schwam, who predeceased her on Aug. 11, 2016. Joan was a legal assistant at her daughter's law firm. As a young lady Joan only wanted to be a stay at home mother, which she was for the majority of her...
(JTA) –When Ed Shames described his Jewish self, he used the term “tough SOB.” Shames, the oldest surviving member of the legendary Easy Company parachute infantry regiment, could also have added “patient.” Shames, who died Dec. 3 at age 99 at his home in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1945 secured bottles of cognac designated for Hitler’s use only from the palace of the man who wanted to wipe the Jews from the earth. He waited until 1961 to open one: The occasion was a bar mitzvah — his son’s commitment to a Jewish future. The exploits of Easy Company...
Jymmie Lynn Jacobson, a wife, mother, bubbe, aunt, sister, friend, and caregiver for many, died unexpectedly on Nov. 8, 2021, at the age of 58. Jymmie is survived by her parents, James and Patricia Gazaway, her husband, Dr. Hal Jacobson, and her children - Abraham and Isaac Jacobson, Marla (Dr. Justin) Capes, Mark (Heather) and Larry (Ashley) Jacobson; as well as her sisters, Marie, Susan and Paige. She is predeceased by her sister, Melissa. Jymmie was born in Tennessee on Dec. 5, 1962. She...
Elisheva Pinhas Zeira, 86, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 202, in Boca Raton, Fla., with her daughter, Dr. Shelly Fenton-Zeira, by her side. Elisheva was born Dec. 26, 1934, in Tel-Aviv, Israel, to Shlomo Pinhas, z"l, and Rachel Cohen Pinhas, z"l. She graduated Gymnasia Herzeliah High School in 1953 in Tel Aviv and then went on to nursing school in Israel. She served in the Israeli Defense Force in the Armored Corps from 1953-1955. In 1960, she married Yuval Zeira and they...
David P. Newman passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, just shy of his 84th birthday, Nov. 20, 1937. David shared his passion for life with his family and many friends. He enjoyed serving his clients and taking care of their financial service needs, having practiced in the Orlando area for more than 50 years. He received his bachelor’s degree in Business from Syracuse University and a law degree from the University of Florida. When not working, David enjoyed traveling and spending time with his...
(JTA) - Mort Sahl, a Jewish satirist who was credited with making caustic political and social satire popular in stand-up comedy, died Tuesday at 94. Often walking on stage holding just a rolled up newspaper, Sahl liked to riff on the headlines of the day in extended improvised monologues. At a time when comedians tended to steer clear of politics, Sahl took aim at politicians and was known to end his sets with the line: "Are there any groups I haven't offended?" Steve Allen, the first host of "...
