Stuart Yale Cohen of Milwaukee died March 23. He was 66.
He was born and raised in Fond du Lac. He attended L.P. Goodrich Senior High School and was active in BBYO and DeMolay. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he attended Loyola University Law School in California.
He spent most of his life in Los Angeles where he ran Charter Agents, Inc., a legal services business, and then went to the B’nai B’rith Record where he was the editor.
According to his family, Stuart was passionate about doing magic for friends and family from the time he was a child, and he was known as “Stuart – The Boy Magician.” Whenever he visited, his nieces and nephews would sit by his feet trying to figure out his next trick. In L.A., he was a long time member of the Magic Castle Club and took pleasure in bringing visitors there.
According to his family, he “was known as a gentle soul, a kind and caring person to everyone he met. Also, he had a great affinity for writing and speaking.”
He is survived by brothers Bernard (Robin) Cohen and David Cohen, and other members of his extended family.
Rabbi Nachman Levine officiated at the graveside service. Burial was buried in Second Home Cemetery.
The family requests donations in Stuart’s memory to a charity of your choice.
She was a Milwaukee native and a 1929 graduate of North Division High School. She was a homemaker, a member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, and a volunteer at the Jewish Convalescent Center. She also enjoyed playing bridge and mahjong.
Her husband, Dr. John M. Colbert, died in 1993. She is survived by sons Robert (Susan) Colbert and Howard (Carolyn) Colbert; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home handled arrangements. Rabbi Mark Lensky officiated at a graveside service on Aug. 25 at Spring Hill Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Jewish Home and Care Center or Chai Point.
He was born in Dobrzyn, Poland. According to an article in the Aug. 25 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he was a Holocaust survivor who escaped from the Strzegowo ghetto in northern Poland when he was 11 and managed to survive first by wandering, then by hiding on a farm, then by joining a partisan group.
After the war, he and a group of other orphans immigrated to Montreal. There, he learned that his mother had survived and had moved to Milwaukee. He joined her in 1950.
He worked in a variety of jobs, including operating a grocery store with his mother. He eventually became an insurance agent with United Insurance of America.
For the past few years, he spoke about his experiences to school classes and in other venues. In addition, local author Liza Wiemer wrote his story for the 2008 book “Small Miracles of the Holocaust: Extraordinary Coincidences of Faith, Hope, and Survival,” written and edited by Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal.
He is survived by his wife, Renee (nee Guten); sons Jeffrey Dygola and Shawn (Wynne) Dygola; and three granddaughters.
Rabbi Marc Berkson officiated at the funeral on Aug. 24. Feerick Funeral Home handled arrangements. Burial was in Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun.
Herman Samuel Langer of Milwaukee died of natural causes on July 13. He was 94.
He was born in Milwaukee and educated at Washington High School, graduating in 1934, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating in 1943 with a degree in pharmacy.
After service in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theater, he worked as a pharmacist in Milwaukee at Langer Labs, Walter Langer Pharmacy, and East Castle Place.
He was a member of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, a Mason, and an active member of the Alpha Zeta Omega pharmacists’ fraternity, serving as president of the local chapter and of the national organization. He also enjoyed photography.
He is survived by his wife Phyllis Langer (nee Cohen); daughter Cheryl (Paul) Hochenberg of Somers, N.Y., and son Frederick (Janet) Langer of Fox Point; and four grandchildren.
Blane Goodman Funeral Service handled arrangements. Rabbi Marc Berkson officiated at the funeral on July 15. Burial was in Spring Hill Cemetery.
He was born in the country today known as Ukraine, near the city of Chernobyl. His father died when he was three, and his mother brought the rest of the family to Chicago. His mother, Shaindle, remarried, and her husband, Louis Spector, adopted Jack and his older sister Mary.
He graduated from Crane Tech High School in 1934 and Northwestern University in 1939 with a Bachelor of Science degree in commerce. In 1943, he married Esther Gendelman; she died in 2006.
In 1946, Jack and Esther moved from Chicago to Milwaukee. After working in his father-in-law’s hardware business, he and his wife started their own real estate investment and management firm.
He was a member of Congregation Beth Israel since 1969, where he served as vice president, helped create the Youth Education Fund, co-chaired the committee that oversaw the building of the sanctuary and office addition and the committee that retired the synagogue’s mortgage. He was named a lifetime trustee.
He was also active in the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, serving as divisional chair or vice-chair on several annual campaigns. He served as president of the United Hebrew Schools and the Milwaukee Board of Jewish Education.
He was an active Labor Zionist, served as co-president of the Jewish National Fund-Wisconsin Region, was active in the local State of Israel Bonds organization, and made more than ten trips to Israel.
He is survived by daughters Marilee (Eugene) Bass of Fox Point, and Sari Spector of Foster City, Calif.; sons Charles (Terez) Spector of San Jose, Calif., and Mitchell (Arlene Dombeck) Spector of Fox Point; and three granddaughters.
Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home handled arrangements. Rabbi Jacob Herber officiated at the funeral on May 16. Burial was in Second Home Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to Congregation Beth Israel or the Jewish National Fund-Wisconsin Region.
She is survived by sons Robert (Mary) Tarney, Michael (David Albert) Tarney, Richard Tarney, and Steven (Mary) Tarney, all of Milwaukee; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Blane Goodman Funeral Service handled arrangements. Rabbi Ronald Shapiro officiated at the funeral on Sept. 4. Burial was in Spring Hill Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the charity of the donor’s choice.
Former Milwaukeean Sarah Zubatsky, nee Bass, died Aug. 10, four days before her 100th birthday, of natural causes.
She was born and raised in Chicago, and met her husband, pediatrician David Zubatsky, M.D., on a blind date, according to her daughter, Jo-Ann (Richard) Geifman of Bettendorf, Iowa.
They moved to Milwaukee, his native town, around 1934, where he established his practice and she was a homemaker. They were members of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, and she was active in its sisterhood.
After about 30 years in Milwaukee, they left for California. Her husband died in 1975, and she lived the last 30 years of her life in Bettendorf.
She joined Hadassah while living in California, according to her daughter, and was a life member. In Bettendorf, she became active in the Quad Cities Jewish Federation and Congregation Beth Israel at the TriCity Jewish Center.
Her daughter wrote, “Sarah’s zest for life has always been an inspiration to her family. Her spunkiness and the twinkle in her eyes have taught us to live and believe in ourselves.”
She was preceded in death by a daughter, Shari Lasky. In addition to her other daughter, she is survived by son-in-law William Lasky of Tustin, Calif.; sister-in-law Ruth Zubatsky; five grandchildren; and ten great-grandchildren.
The funeral was held in California on Aug. 14. Burial was in Pacific View Memorial Park, Corona Del Mar, Calif.
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