After elevator incident, Sam Waisbren remembered with love | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

After elevator incident, Sam Waisbren remembered with love

FOX POINT – About 500 people attended the funeral, with many flying in.

“I think what was amazing about this was how many lives Sam touched,” said Sam’s father, Charles Waisbren, of Fox Point.

Sam Waisbren died Thursday, Aug. 22. He was 30. Sam was exiting an elevator in Manhattan when the elevator malfunctioned. He was crushed and killed.

In this photo, Sam Waisbren holds his newborn niece, Charlotte (Charley) Waisbren, daughter of his older brother Harry and his wife Sari.

“The Jewish community has been wonderful to us,” Charles said. “When something like this happens, the community comes together and tries to help you in any way that it can.”

Sam is remembered as charming and funny, but his humor was not at others’ expense. “I think that’s why everyone just loved him so much,” Charles said.

Sam graduated from Milwaukee Jewish Day School, Nicolet High School and University of Wisconsin – Madison.

When he was young, he and his dad formed a basketball team, open to diversity. “He became very close with all the kids there,” Charles said.

The Sam Waisbren Memorial Basketball Program is to be an expansion of that effort. Jewish culture has a history of commitment to diversity and civil rights and the effort is tied to that, Charles said. A GoFundMe page has been established.

Cherished son of Laura and Charles J. Waisbren, M.D. Dear brother of Harry (Sari, M.D.) Waisbren and Julie (Steve Kempton, M.D.) Waisbren, M.D. Loving grandson of Florence and the late Burton Waisbren, M.D. and the late Phyllis and the late Julius Rubin. Treasured uncle of Charlotte Noa Waisbren. Further survived by a legion of loving relatives and friends.

Funeral services were Aug. 25, 2019 at Congregation Sinai in Fox Point with interment at Mound Zion Cemetery. Memorials are welcome to Congregation Sinai.