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Obituaries
ISABEL LOHRE BLUMENTHAL
BREWSTER, N.Y.—Isabel Blumenthal passed away on June 14, 2021 in Brewster, N.Y. where she had lived since November 2015.
She previously lived in Glen Burnie, Md., Norfolk, Va. and New York City.
Isabel Carolyn Lohre was born on May 7, 1929 to Cantor Harvin Lohre and Beatrice Gotthelf Lohre, Manhattan, N.Y. Isabel graduated PS 87 in 1943 and Julia Richmond High School in 1947, both of Manhattan. She attended Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.
On March 6, 1949, Isabel married Bernard Blumenthal, who predeceased her in 2007. Together, Isabel and Bernie raised three children: Hope Blumenthal (Michael O’Brien) of Brewster, Susie Herron (Kenny) of Arnold, Md. and Robert Blumenthal of Pearland, Texas. She was also the proud grandmother of Chaim O’Brien-Blumenthal, Nina Herron (Erin) and Zander Blumenthal.
Being raised in a musical home, Isabel had a great love and knowledge of classical music, especially opera. She and Bernie were also big Brooklyn Dodgers fans. While living in NYC, Isabel was very active with the Girl Scouts. Isabel and Bernie retired to Norfolk to be nearer to family where they were active in the Moose and Elk lodges. Isabel and Bernie loved going ballroom dancing at the lodges. Isabel loved her two poodles, Joshua and Gigi.
Isabel was predeceased by her brother, Cantor Julian Lohre, sister-in-law Estelle Sherman, and brother-in-law, Allen Sherman Sr. Isabel is also survived by sister-in-law, Rhoda Lohre and many nieces and nephews. A graveside service was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk.
JEAN FRIED JAFFE
VIRGINIA BEACH—Jean Fried Jaffe, who asked everyone to call her Mimi, passed away peacefully on June 11, 2021.
Married to her college sweetheart Jerry (Pop) for 70 years, Mimi was devoted to family. In her 91 years, she was most proud of their three children: Susan (and husband Alan), Ross (and wife Eve), and Ellen, and her six grandchildren: Sarah (and husband Derek), Eric (and fiancee Kristin), Jenny (and fiancee Dan), Brooke, Julia, and Rachel. Mimi was also blessed to share her life with Jayne Poston, her caregiver and best friend for over a dozen years.
Mimi graduated from William & Mary with a BS in economics and became a teacher. Mimi was passionate about academic achievement and extracurricular activities. She was always there to support and cheer us on. Mimi drove thousands of miles to make sure we had the best education, see us play sports, and sit in the front row of every music and theater performance.
Mimi taught us to wear sunscreen, drink water, use cloth napkins, polish the silver, keep our elbows off the table, and have a cookie jar filled with ice cream cones. She was the family photographer, capturing every moment, and now leaves us with drawers and boxes full of photos to reminisce.
Mimi showed us how to live with grace and good manners—to be kind, generous, patient, and polite. Because of Mimi, we appreciate the simple acts of saying please and thank you, keeping fresh flowers on the table, feeding everyone who walks in the house, and leaving the door open for anyone who needs a place to stay. With her elegant handwriting, Mimi showed us all how to write the most thoughtful thank you notes.
Mimi, this is our thank you note to you! We are grateful for your guidance and for encouraging each of us to be our best. To our friends and family, we hope you smile when you hear someone say, “oh my lands!” with a sweet, Richmond accent or eat a banana with peanut butter. For those who never met our Mimi, take the time to handwrite someone a letter and know that you have touched their heart.
You lived life beautifully, Mimi, inside and out. We love you, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck, forever and always. We will miss calling you when we get home, no matter what time it is. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to let Pop know and take good care of him.
Donations to Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center or Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater. Condolences may be expressed at www.simplycremationonline.com.
JULIET A. KATZ
VIRGINIA BEACH—Juliet A. Katz, 100 years old, passed away June 19, 2021.
Julie was the daughter of Frank and Josephine Abramson, and she was raised by aunt and uncle Aaron and Ida Levinsky in New York City.
As a young woman, Julie attended college, then later worked as a secretary to Samuel David Leidesdorf, founder of the eponymous accounting firm. There, she met some of the famous people of the time, such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and J. Robert Oppenheimer, as well as future leaders of the State of Israel, including Teddy Kollek and Golda Meir.
Juliet met Carl J. Katz at a charity ball sponsored by a New York Jewish women’s philanthropic organization of which she was president. They married in 1952 and soon moved to Norfolk, Va., where Carl had a business opportunity, later buying an accounting practice in Norview.
In addition to helping Carl with his practice, Julie was lovingly dedicated to raising their three children.
Julie was very active in the Jewish community. She was a member of the Temple Israel Sisterhood and was president of the Seaboard Region of the Women’s League of Conservative Judaism. She was also active in Hadassah, the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and many other organizations.
After her husband Carl’s passing, Julie joined Cenit Bank as an executive secretary. Recognized for her talent with people and her business acumen, Julie was soon promoted to vice-president and director of human resources.
Julie retired after 15 years with the bank, leaving to enjoy her family, and her friends, attending the opera, and playing Mah Jongg.
Left to cherish her memory, Julie is survived by her brother-in-law Dr. S. Sheldon (Cynthia) Katz and her half-sister Harriet Abramson. She will be sorely missed by her children, Dr. Lawrence (Marilyn) Katz of Rhode Island, Dr. Jeffrey (Mindy) Katz of Virginia Beach, and Dr. Andrea Katz (Sherry Edwards) of Richmond, as well as her grandchildren Carly (Greg Hellman), Jacob, Jana, and Daniel Katz, and great-grandson, Henry Hellman.
A graveside service was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery, officiated by Rabbi Michael Panitz. The service was also livestreamed on Altmeyerfh.com.
Donations to Beth Sholom Village, the Carl and Juliet Katz Fund of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation, and Temple Israel.
STEVE L. SCHATZMAN
VIRGINIA BEACH—At age 77, Steve Schatzman passed away June 13, 2021.
He is predeceased by his wife Georgia and his children, Shari, Wendy and Marni and grandson Sammy.
Funeral services were held in Boca Raton, Fla. with shiva in New York. A commemoration was held in Virginia Beach.
JANET MALCOLM, FAMED NEW YORKER WRITER WHOSE FAMILY FLED THE NAZIS
The influential journalist Janet Malcolm, whose family changed their last name after fleeing the Nazis during World War II, died Wednesday, June 16 at 86 of lung cancer.
Malcolm, who was known for her incisive interviews and innovative New Journalism style, wrote for The New Yorker since the 1960s and published several collections of essays and nonfiction, including the famed book, The Journalist and the Murderer, an examination of journalism ethics through the lens of a high-profile murder case.
Her reputation took a hit after being sued for allegedly fabricating some quotes and distorting others for a series of articles and a book on the former director of the Sigmund Freud Archives, but after years of public scrutiny, a court ruled in her favor in 1994.
Malcolm was born Jana Klara Wienerova to a wealthy Jewish family in 1934 who escaped their native Prague in 1939, possibly by bribing Nazi officers with money.
“Family lore held that their money went to an S.S. officer to buy a racehorse,” The New York Times reported.
Malcolm spent the rest of her childhood
OBITUARIES
in New York City, but wrote in a 2018 New Yorker essay that the family changed its name from Wiener to Winn and hid its Jewish identity because of the antisemitic climate of the time. She did not know she was Jewish until she repeated to her parents an antisemitic slur that she had heard in primary school.
“[T]hey decided it was time to tell us that we were Jewish. It was a bit late. We had internalized the antisemitism in the culture and were shocked and mortified to learn that we were not on the ‘good’ side of the equation,” she wrote. “Many years later, I came to acknowledge and treasure my Jewishness. But during childhood and adolescence I hated and resented and hid it.”
Malcolm married fellow writer Donald Malcolm in college at the University of Michigan. He died in 1975 at age 43 of an undetermined illness. (JTA)
DAVID DUSHMAN, AUSCHWITZ LIBERATOR WHO DROVE A TANK THROUGH ITS FENCE
David Dushman, a Jewish soldier who liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, died at 98.
Dushman died on Saturday, June 5 according to the International Olympic Committee.
Dushman drove a tank for the Soviet Army when his division arrived at Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland where more than a million Jews were murdered, on Jan. 27, 1945. Dushman mowed down the camp’s fence with his tank, helping liberate the inmates inside, according to Agence France-Presse.
“We hardly knew anything about Auschwitz,” he said in a 2015 interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German publication, according to AFP. “They staggered out of the barracks, sat and lay among the dead. Terrible. We threw them all our canned food and immediately went on to hunt down the fascists.”
Dushman was seriously injured in the war but went on to become a renowned fencing coach. He coached the Soviet women’s Olympic fencing team from 1952 to 1988, and several of his fencers won medals.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered by Palestinian terrorists, Dushman was sleeping in lodgings across from the Israeli delegation.
He moved to Austria and later to Munich, where he fenced recreationally until four years ago. (JTA)
HERB STURZ, DRIVER OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM IN NEW YORK CITY AND BEYOND
Herb Sturz, whose extensive career included promoting bail reform and serving as a top deputy to New York City Mayor Ed Koch in the 1970s, has died.
Sturz, who was 90, worked with philanthropist Louis Schweitzer in 1961 to found the Vera Institute of Justice, an early effort to advance the idea that those accused of crimes should not remain in jail prior to their trials simply because they could not afford to post bail.
The two Jewish men spurred a movement, including dozens of criminal justice advocacy groups, that had sweeping impact last year when multiple states, including New York, eliminated cash bail. (The change has divided New York City Jews.)
As deputy mayor to Koch, Sturz advocated for closing Rikers Island, New York City’s infamous jail complex. In recent years, he sat on a city commission that led the City Council to vote in 2019 to do just that. Rikers is set to close by 2027.
Sturz died on Thursday, June 10.
Born in 1930 in Bayonne, New Jersey, Sturz was the child of Jewish immigrants from Europe who recalled his saloonkeeper father crying only once, upon learning that members of his family had been murdered by the Nazis.
According to a 2009 biography, A Kind of Genius: Herb Sturz and Society’s Toughest Problems, Sturz attended Hebrew school as a child but never considered himself religious, though he fasted on Yom Kippur.
“I’m a Jew when Jews are under attack,” Sturz told Sam Roberts, his biographer. (JTA)
Chris Sisler, Vice President, Member of Ohef Sholom Temple, Board member of the Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village, James E. Altmeyer, Jr., President, James E. Altmeyer, Sr., Owner
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