Frederick M. Boris of Mequon died Jan. 31. He was 74.
He was born in New York City and brought to Milwaukee when he was 2. He graduated from Washington High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy.
He owned several pharmacies in the downtown Milwaukee area for some 35 years.
He was a member of Congregation Shalom where he was a long-time board member, was one of the founders of its adult choir and served as a cantorial soloist.
He enjoyed music and sports, especially following the Green Bay Packers and playing golf.
He is survived by his wife Leanne (nee Geller); children Staci (Michael) Blaustein and Evan (Monique Meloche) Boris; siblings Suzanne (Sidney) Herszenson and Neill (Lanie) Boris; siblings-in-law Gary (Denny) Geller, Rabbi Gordon (Elaine) Geller and Richard (Amy Blumenthal) Geller; and two grandchildren.
Blane Goodman Funeral Services handled arrangements. Rabbi Ronald Shapiro officiated at services on Feb. 3. Burial was in Mound Zion Cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions be sent to Congregation Shalom.
Milwaukeean and Holocaust survivor Gerard “Jerry” Friedenfeld died of pneumonia on Feb. 15. He was 90.
He was born in Vienna, Austria, but lived his first 14 years in the then-Czechoslovakian town of Breclav. After the German Nazis annexed the country, he and his family were forced out of their home and had to live in a refugee camp. When he was 14, Nazi harassment broke his leg.
He was sent to England via the Kindertransport (Children’s Transport) program that rescued about 10,000 mostly Jewish children. He was taken in by Lola Hahn-Warburg (1901-1989), who helped rescue many Jewish children and whom Friedenfeld regarded as a second mother. He wrote a tribute to her that was published in the April 2010 Chronicle. His parents died in the Warsaw Ghetto.
In 1943, he joined the Czechoslovakian Army unit of the British Army, where he drove a tank. After the war, he held jobs throughout Czechoslovakia and escaped to Austria in 1948. He met and married Elisabeth, and eventually moved with her to York, Pa., where he had relatives and where their two children were born.
They came to Milwaukee in 1963. They owned and operated a small business for 10 years; but according to his family, Friedenfeld worked most of his life as a salesman.
He also was an inventor who worked on his ideas after retirement. He earned a patent for a gap filler involved in truck streamlining. As he demonstrated in letters to The Chronicle, he was also interested in energy efficiency and vegetarianism.
In an interview with The Chronicle for an article in the Sept. 23, 1983, issue, he said he had for a long time rejected and repressed connection with Judaism and his World War II-era experiences. But in June 1983, he reestablished contact with Lola Hahn-Warburg, then 83, and he said this may have renewed his ties to his past.
He became a Jewish community volunteer. He was active in the Holocaust Speakers Bureau of the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. He belonged to Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah, led religious services for residents of the Jewish Home and Care Center and became a supporter of Israel.
He was honored by the Jewish National Fund-Wisconsin Region in 2001, and he received the William and Fannie Kesselman Senior Service Award from the Jewish Community Foundation of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation in 2005.
His wife died in 1974. He is survived by his partner of 44 years Dorothy Danforth; son Peter (Molly) Friedenfeld and daughter Eva (Mike) McCrossin; six grandchildren and one great-grandson.
He donated his body to the Medical College of Wisconsin. A remembrance service was held for him on March 1 at the Mequon Nature Preserve at which Rabbi Wes Kalmar officiated.
The family requests memorial contributions to be made to HERC.
Eva Kahn, nee Reinheimer, of Germany, Chicago and Milwaukee, died of renal failure on March 3 in Chicago. She was 90.
She was born in Darmstadt, Germany, and as a child saw the rise of the Nazis. According to her daughter Linda Kahn of Chicago, she wrote down her memories of how her family was terrorized, and her father’s kosher butcher shop was boycotted and attacked, and ultimately had to be closed.
Her family was able to leave Germany in 1938 and settle in Chicago where her mother had a cousin. She graduated from Lakeview High School.
She worked at some dress shops and attended some dances for German Jews. There she met her husband, Henry, who came from Milwaukee to these events.
They married in Chicago in 1945 and moved to Milwaukee. Her husband was in the livestock business with his father. She was a homemaker, but according to her daughter did help with aspects of the business.
They belonged to several synagogues, first Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, then Congregation Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel, which became Temple Menorah, then Congregations Anshai Lebowitz and Beth Jehudah. She was active in the sisterhoods of Anshai Lebowitz and Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel.
Her daughter said that her parents helped to bring Holocaust survivors to the U.S. and to teach them how to make a living.
After her husband’s death in 1991, she lived in Milwaukee for more than a decade, then moved to Chicago. She at first lived with her daughter, then moved to a nursing home where she underwent dialysis treatments for some six years.
“She was so dignified and respectful and kind,” said her daughter. “She always did for others and she never complained about anything.”
In addition to daughter Linda Kahn, she is survived by daughter Susan Kahn of Chicago and son Sanford (Eliana) Kahn of Northbrook, Ill., and two grandchildren.
Mitzvah Memorial Funerals in Deerfield, Ill., handled arrangements. Rabbi Doug Zelden of Chicago officiated at a graveside service at Second Home Cemetery in Milwaukee on March 6.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions being sent to the U.S. offices of General Israel Orphans Home for Girls-Jerusalem (132 Nassau St. Suite 725, New York, NY, 10038) or Keren Or Jerusalem Center for Blind Children with Multiple Disabilities (350 Seventh Ave., Suite 701, New York, NY, 10001).
Harold Rozansky of Glendale died on Jan. 22 of natural causes. He was 94.
He was born in Madison and graduated from Central High School there in 1938. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Agriculture, graduating in 1942.
He owned Economy Supply Co., which was a distributor of plumbing and heating equipment, located in West Allis.
He was a member of Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid, serving in many offices including president.
His wife Jeanette Rozansky (nee Shapiro) died in 2013. He is survived by daughter Debra (Charles) Colodny, son Steven (Debra Brenegan) Rozansky; four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home handled arrangements. Rabbi Jacob Herber officiated at the funeral on Jan. 25. Burial was in Second Home Cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions be made to Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid or the charity of the donor’s choice.
Vyvyan Schuman, nee Miller, of Milwaukee died on Jan. 5. She was 91.
She graduated from North Division High School. She was a homemaker. She was a member of Congregation Shalom.
Her husband, Charles Schuman, died in 2011. She is survived by daughter Denise (Jim) Hurley and son Michael (Sharon) Schuman; five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Blane Goodman Funeral Services handled arrangements. Rabbi Noah Chertkoff officiated at graveside services in Spring Hill Cemetery on Jan. 7.
The family suggests memorial gifts be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.
Barbara Shikora, nee Eder, of Milwaukee and Hallandale, Fla., died Dec. 31. She was 80.
According to her son Joseph Shikora of Milwaukee, she “grew up in a family business” of making flags and advertising specialties.
According to a Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle article (June 11, 1993), she studied theater and English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then worked in journalism in Germany and New York City before returning to Milwaukee in 1959.
In 1960, she auditioned for a JCC Players production and there met Melvin Shikora. They married the same year.
The two of them bought Eder Manufacturing Co., Inc., from her parents in the mid-1970s. The firm celebrated its centennial in 1993, when The Chronicle published an article about it and the couple.
She was a life member of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun and the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, and a board member of the Jewish Museum Milwaukee program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
“All things Jewish was her motto and she believed in Zionism,” according to her son. She told The Chronicle in 1993 that theater “always was and still is my first love.”
She was also a fan of the Green Bay Packers, the UW-Madison Badgers, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Miami Heat, her son wrote.
Her husband died in 2010. In addition to her son, she is survived by daughter Joan (Billy) Kantor of Katonah, N.Y.; son Jonathan (Meredith) Shikora of Los Angeles; and six grandchildren.
Goodman-Bensman Whitefish Bay Funeral Home handled arrangements. The funeral was held Jan. 5 at CEEBJ, followed by burial at Second Home Cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions be made to CEEBJ, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation or The Shul.
Minnette Teich, nee Yanow, of Monona died Feb. 17 of complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 83.
She was born in Racine and graduated from Washington High School in Milwaukee in 1949. She was a homemaker, Girl Scout leader and volunteer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She enjoyed gardening, reading and knitting.
Her husband Rex Teich died in 2007. She is survived by children and stepchildren Leslie (Greg) Kebbekus, Dale (Rosemary) Hurwitz, Jamie (John Birkett) Juenemann, Marla Pineiro, Mitch (Anne) Teich, Ken Teich, Cary (Holly) Teich; 16 grandchildren and two great-grandsons.
Blane Goodman Funeral Service handled arrangements. Rabbi Ronald Shapiro officiated at graveside services in Second Home Cemetery on Feb. 22.
The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin, 13195 W. Hampton Ave., Butler, WI, 53007.
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