Obituaries

Obituary: Ruth Protas

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, community leader, weighlifting champ, dies

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 »

Israeli tour guide and Holocaust survivor Eliezer Ayalon dies

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 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 »

Gary Anderson

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 Rubin

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 Levin

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: consummate teacher and ‘all-around mensch’

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

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 »

ESSAY: Benzion Netanyahu’s role in U.S. politics

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

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 »

Bryna Hellman

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 »

Hazel Schoenberg

Hazel Virginia Schoenberg, 91, died March 15, 2012. Raised in Tennessee, Mrs. Schoenberg lived in Brooklyn and the Bronx, N.Y. with her husband. She lived in Tucson for 23 years. Mrs. Schoenberg was preceded in death by her husband, Harry Fred Schoenberg and granddaughter Erin Schoenberg. Survivors include her… Read more »

Marilyn Burkam

Marilyn Burkam

Marilyn Burkam, 76, died March 6, 2012. Born in Newark, N.J., Mrs. Burkam grew up in Las Cruces, N.M., and worked at White Sands Proving Grounds, where she met Edward Burkam. They married and moved to Union, N.J. They moved to Tucson in 1984 to be near their daughters.… Read more »

Daniel Silverman

Daniel Silverman, 83, ascended to a higher realm on Feb. 6, 2012. He was born in Chicago, Ill., in 1928 and lived there until 1967 when he moved with his family to Los Angeles, Calif., (where he still resided). Danny worked at MCA/Universal in the publicity department for more… Read more »

Hank Case

Hank Mitchell Case, 87, died Feb. 23, 2012. Mr. Case was born in Perth Amboy, N.J. He started his college career at New Jersey State University (now Rutgers), interrupting his studies to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving as an engineer. After the war he… Read more »

Rochelle Sulman

Rochelle Beverly Sul­man (née Chanen), 73, died Feb. 19, 2012. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa., Mrs. Sulman moved to Pittsburgh with her husband, and in 1977 settled in Tucson, where she worked for Southwest Gas Company. She was involved in the Jewish community, especially Congregation Anshei Israel. Mrs.… Read more »

Selma Neuhauser

Selma Neuhauser

Selma Neuhauser, age 85, died Feb. 21, 2012. Mrs. Neuhauser (nee Fussgteig) was born in Vienna, Austria. She was placed on a Kindertransport to Sweden at age 11 and moved to the United States at age 22. Both of her parents died in Auschwitz. A resident of Tucson since… Read more »

Robert Polinsky

Robert (Bob) Steven Polinsky, 66, died Jan. 11, 2012, after a year-long struggle with esophageal cancer. Born in St. Louis, Mo., Mr. Polinsky was a graduate of Webster University, where he studied art and sculpture. He lived and taught in Canada after finishing his art degree, completing a number… Read more »