Obituaries

Martin Bacal

Martin Harry Bacal, 84, died Feb. 14, 2017. Mr. Bacal was born in New York City but lived in Tucson since 1934. He was a graduate of Tucson High School and Columbia University. He was the longtime president and owner of Pioneer Paint and Varnish Co. Mr. Bacal was… Read more »

Alma Kane Vactor

Alma Kane Vactor, 91, died Feb. 5, 2017. Mrs. Vactor grew up in Cleveland’s Shaker Heights neighborhood. She and her family moved in 1960 to Tucson, where she joined the family business, Rancho Del Rio Guest Ranch, managing the food service and often serving as chef. In 1965, the… Read more »

George L. Nadler

George L. Nadler, 78, died Feb. 4, 2017. Mr. Nadler graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City, attended Brooklyn College, received his DDS from New York University, and was a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. Survivors include his wife, Essie; children, Rudolph M. (Aimee Baker)… Read more »

Florabelle (Peggy) Simon

Florabelle (Peggy) Simon, 86, died Jan. 31, 2017. Born to immigrant parents, Mrs. Simon grew up in Clairton, Pa. She married and raised four children in Pittsburgh, where she later worked for the local Board of Education. Survivors include her children, Paul (Marcia) Simon of Tucson, Linda Price of… Read more »

Miriam L. Brown

Miriam L. Brown, 97, died Feb. 1, 2017. Born in Newark, N.J., Mrs. Brown grew up in Maplewood, N.J. She graduated at age 15 from Columbia High School, where she would later teach French and Spanish. In 1939, she graduated from New Jersey College for Women of Rutgers University.… Read more »

Marvin Taub

Marvin G. Taub, 87, died Jan. 24, 2017. Born in New York City, Mr. Taub was a Tucson resident for more than 60 years. He was an optometrist for many years and enjoyed providing services to St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic and Job Corps. He was president of the… Read more »

Merrill Broad

Merrill Broad, 89, died Jan. 23, 2017. A longtime Tucson resident, Mr. Broad was born in Uniontown, Pa., the youngest of three siblings. He joined the Navy at the end of World War II, serving on the USS Thompson as secretary to the ship’s commander. When his service ended,… Read more »

Alvin Schechter

Alvin Schechter, 92, died Jan. 23, 2017. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Schechter worked at Royal Buick. He volunteered at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, where he received numerous awards. Mr. Schechter was preceded in death by his wife, Ileane Schechter.  Survivors include his children, Sheryl (Richard) Marcus and… Read more »

Elaine Stoller

Elaine K. Stoller, 71, died Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. Mrs. Stoller was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and graduated from Duquesne University. After her marriage to Arthur they moved to Los Angeles, where she taught second grade for three years before becoming a real estate agent and later a social… Read more »

Warren Bodow

Warren Bodow, 77, of Tucson and New York, died in New York City on Dec. 23, 2016. Born in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1939, Mr. Bodow graduated with a combined journalism and liberal arts degree from Syracuse University. His 40-year career in radio took him from campus station newsreader to… Read more »

Samuel George Arcus

Samuel George Arcus, 95, died Jan. 5, 2017. Mr. Arcus was born in New York. When he was 7 his mother died and he was placed in the Hebrew National Orphan Home. He stayed there for almost 12 years. He went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree… Read more »

Doris M. Rosenkrantz

Doris M. Rosenkrantz, 90, died Jan. 4, 2017. Mrs. Rosenkrantz was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.  She moved to Tucson in 1980 and was a longtime member of Temple Emanu-El and a life member of Hadassah. Mrs. Rosenkrantz was preceded in death by her husband, Sidney, known as El Cid;… Read more »

James S. Levy

James S. Levy, 84, died Dec. 26, 2016 in Kona, Hawaii. Born in Tucson, Mr. Levy was a descendent of the pioneer Levy family of Southern Arizona. He was a graduate of Tucson High School and the University of Arizona. He worked for Levy’s Department Store as a buyer… Read more »

Children’s hospital benefactor and community volunteer Joan Diamond dies

Joan B. Diamond, 87, philanthropist and Jewish community volunteer, died Dec. 28, 2016. Diamond was an early supporter of the University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center, which opened in 1992, and joined her husband, real estate developer Donald Diamond, in providing the lead gift to establish the Diamond… Read more »

Solomon Littman, journalist, scholar, author and Nazi hunter, dies at 96

Solomon I. “Sol” Littman, 96, a journalist, scholar, author and hunter of Nazi war criminals, died Jan. 2, 2017. Littman was born in Toronto and educated at the University of Toronto, State College of Washington and University of Wisconsin. After 14 years as a director of the Anti-Defamation League… Read more »

Alfred Paley

Alfred Irving Paley, 89, died Dec. 24, 2016. Born in Monticello, N.Y., Mr. Paley was a U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II. He graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn) with a degree in electrical engineering. He spent his… Read more »

Barbara Levy

Barbara Levy died Dec. 23, 2016. Survivors include her daughters, Linda Levy and Jaie Levy, both of Tucson; and one grandson. Graveside services were held at Evergreen Cemetery with Rabbi Robert Eisen of Congregation Anshei Israel officiating.… Read more »

Jay Knapp

Jay Knapp, 88, died Dec. 6, 2016. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Mr. Knapp was an amateur magician and performed every week for children at Tucson Medical Center and University Medical Center for 14 years. Mr. Knapp was preceded in death by his daughter Marcia in 1978. Survivors include his… Read more »

Anne Rothschild

Anne Silverman Rothschild, 88, died Nov. 14, 2016. Mrs. Rothschild was preceded in death by her sister, Florence Kaplan. Survivors include her husband of 62 years, Lowell E. Rothschild; children, Jonathan (Karen Spiegel) Rothschild of Tucson and Jennifer (Julian Izbiky) Rothschild of Englewood, Colo.; and four grandchildren. A memorial… Read more »

Anna Rogovin

Anna Rogovin, 100, died Oct. 27, 2016. Born in New York City to Russian immigrants, Ms. Rogovin attended Hunter College in New York at age 15. She graduated with honors and began her career with a civil service job in the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. When World… Read more »