Milwaukee native Robert David Cohen of Denver, Colo., died July 25 of a combination of heart disease and kidney failure. He was 82.
He was the second child of Rene (nee Hiller) and Nat Cohen. (His older sister, Gene Boyer, was one of the founders of the National Organization for Women; she died in 2003.) He graduated from Whitefish Bay High School.
After a short time in the U.S. Army, during which he earned a sharpshooter’s medal, he received a medical discharge. After briefly working in the furniture business in Beaver Dam with (surviving) brother-in-law Burt Boyer, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting in 1957, and where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
He worked as a certified public accountant in Milwaukee, where he was a partner in the firm Madnek Cohen & Leack. After moving to Denver in 1986, he continued to work in accounting and briefly ran a small popcorn and yoghurt store.
He was a member of the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The WICPA honored him on the occasion of his 50th year in the profession.
In Milwaukee, he was a member of Congregation Beth Israel and Congregation Shalom, serving for a time on the board of the latter. In Denver, he was a member of Temple Micah. He also was a Mason, attaining the 32nd degree in 1960.
He was an avid golfer for most of his life, until ill health during his last few years forced him to quit the game. But he had many additional interests and hobbies that he also pursued avidly at different times, including carpentry, metalworking, pipe-smoking, archery, artistic photography, physical fitness, chess, card games (poker, bridge, cribbage), casino gambling, and billiards.
He enjoyed classical music (mostly for orchestra) and big band swing music, and later became fond of some soft rock (Mason Williams, Abba), klezmer, and Renaissance music. He was fascinated by some scientific and technical subjects, and enjoyed psychology, geology, chaos theory, and codes.
He had an earthy sense of humor, and enjoyed comedy recordings, books, and films. Bits & Pieces magazine in its Feb. 7, 2002, issue printed his observation that “The First Rule of a Professional Accounting Practice” is, “Nobody is in a rush for the wrong answer.”
He also was interested in Jewish subjects and was fond of the Talmud section “Pirke Avot” (“Sayings of the Sages”); and later in life he collected and read books about Jewish mysticism.
His first two marriages ended in divorce. His survivors include his third wife of 35 years, Beverly (nee Pipkorn); daughter Eileen (Scott) Goldberg of Denver; son Leon Cohen of Milwaukee; adopted daughter Kathy (Jason) Kohl of Colorado Springs, Colo.; mother-in-law Ruth Pipkorn of Denver; sister-in-law Ileen (Don) Kendall of Springfield, Mo.; brother-in-law Rodney (Glenda) Pipkorn of Port Washington; and three grandchildren.
Feldman Mortuary handled arrangements. Rabbi Adam Morris officiated at a graveside service at Emanuel Cemetery on July 27.
Memorial contributions may be made to Temple Micah.
Milwaukee physician and Judaic teacher Lawrence Sheldon Hurwitz died June 22. He was 71.
He graduated from Whitefish Bay High School in 1959, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1963, and the Stanford University medical school in 1968. He performed an internship at the University of Minnesota and did residency in internal medicine and radiotherapy, and was a fellow in hematology, at McMaster University. He was chief resident at the University of Toronto and a fellow of the Ontario Cancer Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital.
He had a diverse medical career in Wisconsin. He chaired the cancer program of St. Joseph’s Hospital; was medical director of Green Tree Hospice, the Visiting Nurses Association, St. Joseph’s Hospice, Lakewood Care Center, Heartland Hospices in Brookfield and Fond du Lac, and Heartland Home Care in Fond du Lac. He was the attending physician at ten Milwaukee-area nursing homes.
He also was active in Jewish learning and the Jewish community. He helped establish the Hillel Foundation at Stanford University. He was a president of Hillel Academy and a founder of the Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study.
Above all, he was the senior editor and writer for Torah Productions, Inc., 1989-2012, for which he compiled and wrote thousands of commentaries and stories.
As he explained to The Chronicle in 1999, when he received the Coalition for Jewish Learning’s Educator of the Year award, in his work as an oncologist, “Every day I was signing death certificates, staring at death. My writing was the only way for me to stay sane and keep in touch with something meaningful.”
His greatest achievement as an educator, he told The Chronicle, “is to give children and adults an interest and love for Torah. It is to make them realize that Torah is not just an ancient manuscript in which only old scholars are interested, it has a modern voice, too. Torah is a mirror where we can study ourselves.”
He also taught Judaic subjects at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School and Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, and was a faculty member for the Coalition for Alternatives in Jewish Education, and a visiting faculty member at United Methodist Church in Whitefish Bay, among many other teaching and learning activities. He also wrote Torah portion columns for the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.
He was a member of Congregations Beth Israel and Shalom.
According to his family, he was a voracious reader, primarily of biographies and history; enjoyed car travel in the U.S.; liked to watch old movies and the “Law and Order” television show; and enjoyed celebrating with his family.
In addition to his CJL award, Hurwitz received the Kenneth Day Sterling Award when he was a UW-Madison undergraduate and was elected to Phi Kappa Phi honor society there; and was named Wisconsin Nursing Home Physician of the Year in 1996.
He is survived by mother Thelma Hurwitz of Shorewood; wife Marsha (nee Familant) Hurwitz of Glendale; daughters Meira (David) Feldner of Port Washington and Michal Hurwitz of Jacksonville, Fla.; sons Aaron Hurwitz of Walworth, Aryeh Hurwitz of Verona, and Yadin Hurwitz of Whitefish Bay; sister Francie (Terry) Shagin of Blenheim, New Zealand; brother Ken (Gail) Hurwitz of Rafael, Calif.; and four grandchildren.
Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home handled arrangements. Rabbi Ronald Shapiro officiated at the funeral at Congregation Shalom on June 28. Burial was in Second Home Cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Heartland Hospice
Milwaukee native Maynard Allen Jankowitz of St. Petersburg, Fla., died May 24. He was 80.
He graduated from Washington High School and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked as a real estate broker and operated home improvement businesses in Wisconsin and Florida.
He was a member of Congregation Anshai Lebowitz in Mequon, and Temple Bnai Israel in Clearwater, Fla.
He is survived by wife Bonnie Jankowitz (nee Roberts); brother Harry E. Jankowitz; and sisters-in-law June Johnson and Ann Baukus.
Milwaukeean Rudolph “Rudy” Kane died July 31 of pneumonia. He was 94.
He was born in Milwaukee and graduated from Boys’ Tech in 1936. He was a master plumber who owned and ran his own company.
He was a member of the Master Plumbers Association. He enjoyed fishing, travel, and lapidary work. He was a member of Congregation Shalom.
His wife, Anita (nee Switzky) Kane, died in 1992. He is survived by sons Douglas (Diane) Kane, James (Lucy Whitmarsh) Kane, Dr. Richard (Diane) Kane; four grandsons; and two great-granddaughters.
Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home handled arrangements. Rabbi Ronald Shapiro officiated at the funeral on Aug. 3. Burial was in Spring Hill Cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Congregation Shalom.
Milwaukee native Clara N. Peckarsky, nee Reiser, of Mercer Island, Wash., died June 21 of advanced age. She was 93.
She graduated from Cudahy High School in 1936 and from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Extension in 1938. At various times, she worked as a homemaker, interior design sales associate, and real estate broker.
She was a member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and Congregation Sinai, and of NAAMAT USA and the Jewish War Veterans. She enjoyed cooking, interior design, and sewing.
Her husband, Charles S. Peckarsky, died in 2008. She is survived by son David (Ruth) Peckarsky of Seattle, Wash.; sister Rochelle Frank of Sarasota, Fla.; brother-in-law Milton Gershon of Milwaukee; and two grandsons.
Seattle Jewish Chapel handled arrangements. Rabbi Robert Maslan officiated at the funeral in Seattle on June 24.
The family suggests memorial contributions to The Good People Fund, 384 Wyoming Ave., Millburn, NJ, 07041.
Lifelong Milwaukeean Bernice M. Persten, nee Weinstein, died on July 26. She was 87.
She graduated from West Division High School in 1942.
She belonged to Congregation Beth Israel. She was a member of NAAMAT USA and the Morris R. Guten Post Auxiliary of the Jewish War Veterans.
Her husband, Norman Persten, died in 1999. She is survived by daughters Sandra (Howard) Schwartz of Madison and Carole Persten of Raleigh, N.C.; son Michael (Susan) Persten of Mequon; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home handled arrangements. Rabbi Jacob Herber officiated at a graveside service at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery on July 30.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Morris R. Guten Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.
Native Milwaukeean Jeanne G. Riegelman of San Diego, Calif., died July 21 of complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 93.
She graduated from Northwestern University in 1940. She was a member of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun.
Her husband, Robert Riegelman, died in 2004. She is survived by sons Richard (Linda) Riegelman of Bethesda, Md., and James (Ellen Lavin) Riegelman of San Diego; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Funeral and burial were in San Diego.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Ave., New York, NY, 10001.
Burton M. Zimmerman, M.D., died June 23. He was 93.
He was a Milwaukee native who graduated from North Division High School in 1936, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wisconsin Medical School in 1943. He served in the U.S. Navy with the rank of commander.
He was a family practice physician for 60 years. He became head of family practice at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and chair of the medical executive committee there. He belonged to the American Medical Association and was a fellow of the Academy of Family Practice.
He served as president of the Phi Delta Epsilon medical fraternity. He also belonged to the UW Medical Alumnae Association, Harmony Masonic Lodge, B’nai B’rith, and was a charter member of the Bay View Lions Club.
He enjoyed golf and photography. He was a member of Congregation Shalom.
He is survived by his wife Mavis (nee Stone) Zimmermann; daughters Barbara (Jack) Fisher, Vicki (Lawrence) Schober, and Marsha (Peter) Ely; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandson.
Blane Goodman Funeral Service handled arrangements. Rabbis Ronald Shapiro and Steve Adams officiated at the funeral on June 27. Burial was in Spring Hill Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Jewish Home and Care Center, Congregation Shalom, or the University of Wisconsin Medical Alumnae Association.
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