22 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 24, 2011
OBITUARIES COOK: On Friday, February 18, 2011, David M. Cook, beloved husband of Norma (Reuben) Cook; loving father of Michael Cook of Philadelphia and Cindy Cook-Katz of Pittsburgh; brother of the late Freda Margolis and Sidney Cook; loving “Papa” of Adam and Alyse Katz; also survived by many nieces and nephews. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Shadyside. Interment Homewood Cemetery/Star of David Section. JACOBSON: On Sunday, February 13, 2011, in Stuart, FL, Elliott M. Jacobson; beloved husband of Betty J. Jacobson and the late Bernice L. Jacobson; loving father of Paul S. Jacobson, the late Alan C. Jacobson, Lawrence P. Jacobson, Dawn M. Stept, George B. Wintner and Kerry W. Smooke; devoted brother of Joyce J. Leavitt and Marty Jacobson; beloved grandfather of Jeremy Jacobson, Heather Van Syckle, Courtney and Brooke Jacobson, Chelsea and Jamie Jacobson, Matthew Marcus and the late Elizabeth Marcus, Eric and Molly Smooke, Bakara and Micah Wintner; great-grandfather of Kean and Rory Van Syckle and Hannah Marcus. Contributions may be made to the Treasure Coast Hospice, 1201 SE Indian Road, Stuart, Florida 34997. Arrangements by Cox-Gifford-Seawinds Funeral Home, Vero Beach, FL. KURTZ: On Sunday, February 6, 2011, Saul Kurtz, beloved husband of Shirley Kurtz; father of Michael (Susan) Kurtz and JoAnn (Charles) KurtzAhlers; brother of Jack Kurtz; grandfather of Beth Erin Kurtz and Steven
Kurtz; stepgrandfather of Chris Ahlers. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Shadyside. Interment Ohav Zedeck Cemetery, Shaler Township. LEVAUR: On Wednesday, February 16, 2011, Ruth Lieberman, 100, beloved wife of the late Bernard D. Levaur; cherished mother of Marcia Levaur of Pittsburgh, and Barbara and Donald Werner of Hermitage, PA and Boca Raton, FL; sister of the late Libbie (late Sol) Prince, the late Ethel (late Isadore) Prince and the late Leonard (late Sylvia) Lieberman; adored grandmother of Susan Morrow of Chicago and Beth and Martin Katz of Greenbrae, CA, and stepgrandchildren Roni Werner Rosati, Eric and Craig Werner; beloved greatgrandmother of 12; also survived by devoted caregivers, Linda Biskup, Mary Ann Manno, Marlene Peterson and Toni Slayton. Services were held at Rodef Shalom Temple. Contributions may be made to Ruth & Bernard Levaur Contemporary Lecture Series at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 or Sivitz Jewish Hospice, 200 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. LUICK: On Friday, February 18, 2011, Howard M. “Butch” Luick; beloved son of Lenora “Babe” Luick of Pittsburgh and the late Carl Luick; brother of Cathy Luick (Bill Ozanick) of Pittsburgh, Elysa Luick of Baltimore, MD, and Marc Luick also of Pittsburgh. Services and interment private. Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc.
Please refer to www.thejewishchronicle.net for regularly updated obituary information.
SWARTZ: On Wednesday, February 16, 2011, J. Elliott Swartz, beloved husband of the late Jean Swartz; beloved father of Patricia (Robert) Gillman and Bobbi (late Dr. Edward) Elmer; brother of Louis (Marcy) Swartz; brother-in-law of Ethel Ackerman; grandfather of Drew, Jamie, Amy and Todd; also survived by nieces and nephews. Graveside
services and interment were held at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 960 Penn Avenue, Suite 1000, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 or Family Hospice & Palliative Care, 50 Moffett Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15243. Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc.
Wolhendler never harbored hate for Germans despite Holocaust BY TOBY TABACHNICK Staff Writer
Jacob Wolhendler, a Holocaust survivor whose entire family was murdered by Nazis during World War II, managed to escape the same fate by wits, luck and his blond-haired, blueeyed looks. He died Monday, Feb. 14, at the Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Squirrel Hill. He was 97. Wolhendler came to Pittsburgh to live with an aunt and uncle after leaving a Czech displaced persons camp in 1947, according to his cousin, Irene Goldszer. He owned and operated a furniture store on the South Side, serving steel mill workers and their families, until the late 1980s. His road to Pittsburgh was a rough one. Wolhendler and his father fled their small town in Poland in 1939 when word came that the Germans were rounding up and shooting Jewish men. After taking refuge in a farmhouse about 30 kilometers away, Germans soldiers soon discovered them and shot Wolhendler’s father in cold blood. Having no time to tend to his father’s body, Wolhendler fled to the woods, making his way back home to his mother and younger siblings. “His mother knew that things were not getting better, and the borders were still open,” said Goldszer. “So she sent her son west to Germany to work on a potato farm. She thought that with his blue eyes and light features he might manage to get by as German, Catholic boy.” Wolhendler lived for six years with a farmer in Germany, until the end of the war. “He was fairly certain the farmer knew he was a Jew,” Goldszer said. “But the farmer never exposed him, and they never discussed it.” In 1943, Wolhendler’s mother and four siblings were deported to Auschwitz, where they were all killed. Although Germans were responsible for the death of Wolhendler’s family, he never forgot that it was also a German who saved his life. “He was one of those people who never manifested hatred toward Germans” Goldszer said. “He used to say,
‘I’ve known some Germans who were good to me, and some took my whole family.’ ” Wolhendler, who never married, became a philanthropist in the Jewish community, donating funds to organizations such as the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, the Holocaust Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and the Jewish Association on Aging. “He didn’t allow himself any finery,” said Bicky Goldszer, another cousin. “He thought it was more important to take care of others than himself.” Wolhendler did take good care of himself physically, though, recognizing early in his life the value of good nutrition and exercise. He typically walked at least four miles a day, either at the Schenley Park golf course, in good weather, or at the track in the JCC when the weather was inclement, said Irene Goldszer. While Wolhendler funded educational programs at the Holocaust Center, including a lecture series that bears his name, he never spoke openly about his experiences during the Holocaust, and remained a quiet man throughout his life. “He was a person of few words,” said Irene Goldszer. “He was terse and pithy. He survived by watching and not speaking. For six years he was able to masquerade in Germany by not speaking. He didn’t want people to detect a Yiddish inflection, so he didn’t talk.” While he did not speak of his Holocaust experiences to his family until he was in his early 90s, he gave interviews to authors of Holocaust books, Irene Goldszer said. His experiences were among those chronicled in the book, “Flares of Memory: Stories of Childhood During the Holocaust.” Wolhendler is also survived by two cousins, Dr. Louis Goldszer of Squirrel Hill and Anne Krieger of Oakland, and their children. Memorial contributions may be made to the Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Darlington Road, Pittsburgh 15217.
(Toby Tabachnick can be reached at tobyt@thejewischronicle.net.)
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