Ann Braun Goldfein, 81, died on Sept. 30, 2012, after a yearlong battle with ovarian cancer. Born in Chicago, Mrs. Goldfein studied art at the Pratt Institute of Design in New York City. Later, while living in Chicago, her brother Mac introduced her to Sam Goldfein and they married… Read more »
Reva Sherman, 86, died Oct. 3, 2012. Born in Chicago, Mrs. Sherman was the youngest of six children of Russian Jewish immigrants. She graduated from Chicago’s Von Steuben High School in 1944 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Roosevelt University. Mrs. Sherman was a docent at the Arizona Sonora… Read more »
Claire Salonic Kolins, 89, died Oct. 9, 2012. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mrs. Kolins attended Penn State in the early 1940s and finished college at the University of Arizona in the 1980s. She was a longtime member of Temple Emanu-El. Mrs. Kolins was preceded in death by her… Read more »
Arlen Specter, shown speaking at the AFL-CIO convention in September 2009, represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. (Steve Dietz/Sharp Image) WASHINGTON (JTA) — During his 30 years in the clubby confines of the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter never lost his acerbic prosecutorial zeal, friends and associates say. The insistent questions, the commitment to independence that made the longtime Pennsylvania senator a critical player in recent U.S. history, ultimately did… Read more »
Faina Luterman, 73, died June 22, 2012. Born in Belaya Tserkov, Ukraine, Mrs. Luterman was a Holocaust survivor. She received a master’s degree in physics/astronomy from Orenburg State University, in the former Soviet Union. Mrs. Luterman taught physics and astronomy at high school and college levels for over 30… Read more »
David H. Seltzer, 81, died Aug. 22, 2012. Mr. Seltzer graduated from Long Island University. He served in the Korean War and was decorated. Mr. Seltzer owned several businesses including all the Morrow’s Nut Houses in Tucson and the original Famous Sam’s on Prince Road and First Avenue. Mr.… Read more »
Alan Cohen Alan Cohen, 84, died June 28, 2012. Born in Portland, Ore., Mr. Cohen attended the University of Oregon and was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. He played professional baseball with the Cleveland Indians and for the old Tucson Cowboys during the 1950s. He started an independent insurance… Read more »
Ruth Protas Ruth Protas (nee Kimmel), age 100, died July 14, 2012. Born in Poland, Mrs. Protas emigrated to New York in 1920, where she met her husband, David Protas, with whom she raised a family. After David’s death in 1973, she moved from North Bergen, N.J., to Phoenix, Ariz., where… Read more »
Paul Ash in 1957, when he won the U.S. national weightlifting championship (Courtesy Bruce Ash) Real estate executive, world-class athlete and Tucson community leader Paul Ash, 81, died in Encinitas, Calif., on June 24, 2012. “When the term ‘the greatest generation’ was coined, Paul Ash could very well have been the prototype,” says Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »
Eliezer Ayalon Eliezer Ayalon, a veteran tour guide for Jewish Federation missions, died late last month. Born in Radom, Poland in 1928, Ayalon was the only child from his family to survive the Holocaust. He spent a year in the Radom Ghetto and then three years in five different concentration camps… Read more »
Jonathan Owens Jonathan David Owens, 49, died suddenly on May 14, 2012. Mr. Owens was a jeweler at Maguire’s Jewelry and an active member of Congregation Anshei Israel. A loving husband and family man, he took an active role in his children’s sports and musical accomplishments. He was a friend to… Read more »
He lived, he loved, he had a good life. He was loved by his wife, children and grandchildren. “Lieutenant” Gary G. Anderson travelled to his mountaintop to watch over his family on May 8, 2012 in Tucson, Ariz. He was born June 25,1933, the son of Vera A. McCarthy… Read more »
Gertrude (Goldie) Rubin died April 12, 2012. Born in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mrs. Rubin lived with her husband in Brooklyn before they moved to Tucson in 1981. Mrs. Rubin was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, David Rubin. Survivors include her children, Norman… Read more »
Sylvia C. (Spekter) Levin, 88, died May 3, 2012. Mrs. Levin received her R.N. degree from Beth Israel School of Nursing in New York City. For 17 years, she nursed in several hospital labor, delivery and nursery wards. She later assisted in an orthopedic surgeon’s office and was floor… Read more »
Mitch Dorson Mitch Dorson, 63, died unexpectedly on May 13, 2012. “His life was a story about a man standing for his principles,” says Rabbi Joseph Weizenbaum, who worked with Mr. Dorson at Temple Emanu-El. “He never backed off” of those principles teaching social studies, first at Catalina Foothills High School… Read more »
Victor Levin, 81, died April 3, 2012. Born in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Mr. Levin moved to Columbus, Ohio. He attended South High School and received a masters degree in physics from Ohio State University. Mr. Levin worked as an aeronautical engineer for Rockwell and Batelle in Columbus. He moved… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his father, Benzion, at a memorial day for Yoni Netanyahu at Mount Herzl military cemetary in Jerusalem, June 26, 2007. (Michael Fattal/Flash90) NEW YORK (JTA) — Benzion Netanyahu — historian, one-time political activist and father of Israel’s prime minister — died Monday in Jerusalem at 102. An accomplished scholar and the patriarch of one of Israel’s most important political families, he also played a surprising and little-known role in American political… Read more »
Harold Bongarten Harold Bongarten, 89, of Tucson, died April 2, 2012. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Mr. Bongarten received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University, a masters of management from the University of Pittsburgh, and completed the advanced management program at Harvard Business School. During World War… Read more »
(JTA) — Tributes and statements of profound respect and admiration are pouring in for Elan Steinberg, former executive director of the World Jewish Congress, who died April 6 of complications from lymphatic cancer. He was 59. “Elan’s premature death will leave a huge void in the Jewish world,” said… Read more »
Bryna E. Hellman, 82, died March 27, 2012, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Mrs. Hellman graduated from Taft High School. She moved to Tucson in 1966. Mrs. Hellman was a life member of Hadassah and a member of AIPAC. She volunteered at… Read more »
