Trump’s plan to visit Pittsburgh stirs debate
Loved ones remember legacies of synagogue shooting victims
PITTSBURGH — The victims of the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history were doctors and dentists, accountants and academics, retirees and senior citizens who didn’t let age get in their way.
Two were brothers, another two a married couple. One was 97. All 11 shared a dedication to the Tree of Life synagogue, where they were killed Saturday in a shooting rampage.
And they were “all very gentle, caring, compassionate, good people,” said Brian Schreiber, the president of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and a member of Tree of Life.
Said Stephen Cohen, co-president of one of the congregations that meet there: “The loss is incalculable.”
CECIL AND DAVID ROSENTHAL: “SWEET, GENTLE, CARING MEN”
Cecil, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54, went through life together with help from a disability-services organization. And an important part of the brothers’ lives was the Tree of Life Synagogue, where they never missed a Saturday service, people who knew them say.
“If they were here, they would tell you that is where they were supposed to be,” Chris Schopf, a vice president of the organization ACHIEVA, said in a statement.
BERNICE AND SYLVAN SIMON: HELPING OTHERS AS A TEAM
Bernice and Sylvan Simon were always ready to help other people, longtime friend and neighbor Jo Stepaniak says, and “they always did it with a smile and always did it with graciousness.”
The Simons were fixtures in the townhome community on the outskirts of Pittsburgh where they had lived for decades. She’d served on the board, and he was a familiar face from his walks around the neighborhood, with the couple’s dog in years past.
Sylvan, 86, was a retired accountant with a good sense of humor. Bernice, 84, a former nurse, loved classical music and devoted time to charitable work, according to Stepaniak and neighbor Inez Miller.
MELVIN WAX: “A SWEET, SWEET GUY”
Melvin Wax was always the first to arrive at New Light Congregation in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood — and the last to leave.
Fellow members of his congregation, which rented space in the lower level of the Tree of Life Synagogue, said Wax, who was in his 80s, was a kind man and a pillar of the congregation, filling just about every role except cantor.
“He was a gem. He was a gentleman,” recalled fellow congregant Barry Werber on Sunday.
JERRY RABINOWITZ: “TRUSTED CONFIDANT, HEALER”
Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, and his partner in his medical practice were seemingly destined to spend their professional lives together.
He and Dr. Kenneth Ciesielka had been friends for more than 30 years, attending the same college, the same medical school and even had the same residency at UPMC a few years apart.
“He is one of the finest people I’ve ever met. We’ve been in practice together for 30 years and friends longer than that,” Ciesielka said.
JOYCE FIENBERG: “MAGNIFICENT, GENEROUS, CARING”
Joyce Fienberg and her late husband, Stephen, were intellectual powerhouses, but those who knew them say they were the kind of people who used that intellect to help others.
Joyce Fienberg, 75, spent most of her career at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center. Dr. Gaea Leinhardt, who was Fienberg’s research partner, said she “was a magnificent, generous, caring, and profoundly thoughtful human being.”
DANIEL STEIN: “PASSIONATE ABOUT THE COMMUNITY AND ISRAEL”
Daniel Stein, 71, was a visible member of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, where he was a leader in the New Light Congregation and his wife, Sharyn, is the membership vice president of the area’s Hadassah chapter.
“Their Judaism is very important to them, and to him,” said chapter co-president Nancy Shuman.
Stein, 71, was president of the Men’s Club at Tree of Life. He also was among a corps of the New Light members who, along with Wax and Richard Gottfried, 65, made up “the religious heart” of the congregation.
Stein’s nephew Steven Halle said his uncle “was always willing to help anybody.”
ROSE MALLINGER: SHOOTER’S OLDEST VICTIM
Former Tree of Life Rabbi Chuck Diamond said he worried about Rose Mallinger as soon as he heard about the deadly shooting at the synagogue. The 97-year-old had almost unfailingly attended services for decades, he told The Washington Post, and was among the first to walk in. “I feel a part of me died in that building,” Diamond said. Mallinger’s 61-year-old daughter was among the wounded.
RICHARD GOTTFRIED: READYING FOR RETIREMENT
Richard Gottfried was preparing for a new chapter in his life, preparing to retire in the next few months.
He ran a dental office with his wife and practice partner Margaret “Peg” Durachko Gottfried. Gottfried often did charity work seeing patients who could not otherwise afford dental care.
He, along with Wax and Stein, “led the service, they maintained the Torah, they did what needed to be done with the rabbi to make services happen,” Cohen said.
IRVING YOUNGER: “NEVER HAD AN UNKIND WORD”
Irving Younger, 69, was personable and “a wonderful” father and grandfather, according to a former longtime neighbor. The onetime real estate company owner “never had an unkind word to say about anybody.”