Sidney P. Kozak

Sidney P. Kozak, 87, died Oct. 5. He had suffered from Parkinson’s disease for more than 20 years.

The Milwaukee native was known for his fairness and respect for others — probably because he and his family were not always treated in that manner.

He was the son of Jewish immigrants who left Russia to escape religious persecution. On settling in Milwaukee, his father, Charles Kozak, became an independent insurance agent, one of the few Jews in the profession at the time.

After attending the University of Wisconsin Medical School for two years in the 1930s, Kozak was told he couldn’t continue because the school had exceeded its quota of Jewish students. His family said he never complained, but he also never forgot.

Instead, he worked at his father’s agency until he was drafted in 1941. Because of his medical training, he served in the Army Medical Corps for the rest of the war. He was discharged with the rank of captain.

His family recalled that he was a white captain in an all-black unit of the 723rd Sanitary Company, which removed the wounded from European battlefields, including the famous Battle of the Bulge.

His wife, Gertrude Kozak, noted that the men had been abused by their previous white commanding officer. “He treated them with respect and they respected him. My husband knew was prejudice was. After the war, the men continued to send him cards and one even visited our home in the 1950s. He told us this was the first time he’d ever sat at a white man’s table.”

After the war, he returned to the insurance agency, where he handled the business side and his father handled the sales. When his father died in 1952, he handled the sales, too, which he didn’t enjoy.

In the 1960s, he and his brother, William Kozak, started a travel agency, International House of Travel, which he operated until closing it last year. He sold the insurance agency in 1980.

He was a former member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun. He also was a past commander of the Morris R. Guten Post, Jewish War Veterans of the USA.

Always working hard to do the best for his family, he also enjoyed nature and fishing. His family said he was known for his “unique sense of humor, honesty and gentleness, and as a man who was always fair and decent.”

In addition to his wife, he is survived by daughters Ellen Kozak of Milwaukee, June Kozak (Daniel) Kane of Tenefly, N.J., and Carla (John Wiencke) Kozak of San Francisco; son Warren (Lisa Krenzel) Kozak of New York; and three grandchildren.

Rabbi Steven Adams conducted services on Oct. 6.