Former Milwaukeean Samuel Edelman died Aug. 15 in Naples, Fla. He was 83.
Born in Sioux City, Iowa, he graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor of science degree in engineering. There he met Sylvia Halpern, who became his wife of 59 years.
He served in the 88th Infantry Division in Italy during World War II. After the war, because he could speak Yiddish, he was put in command of German prisoners of war.
According to his son Richard (Nina) Edelman of Milwaukee, “Although he brought home mementos of those days — S.S. insignias and German artillery calculators and compasses — not once did Dad ever revel in his position of power over those who meant to annihilate him and his kind.”
After his discharge, he began a career as a scrap metals trader and executive in Iowa and Wisconsin. He was a resident of Naples for the past 15 years.
His children recalled that he was “a loving and demanding father who told us to challenge ourselves intellectually, to reach for the stars and to remember that what matters in the end is your family. He was a man of his word, respected for his honesty and his aversion to deception, bigotry and snobbery.”
He is further survived by daughter Joan (C. Michael) Spero of New York City; sons Robert (Nancy Gorens-Edelman) Edelman of Milwaukee and James (Susan) Edelman of Memphis, Tenn.; sisters Mary Arouste of Jackson, N.J., and Ida (Sidney) Stark of Englishtown, N.J.; and 12 grandchildren.
Rabbi Dena Feingold officiated at services on Aug. 15. Burial was in Mound Zion Cemetery.
Loading ...