Former Jewish Federation chaplain, at 89

Rabbi Harold “Chaim” Richter of Hollywood was known as the beloved guitar-strumming rabbi to his congregants, and a counselor to those in need.

Richter, who served for more than 25 years as the director of chaplaincy at the Jewish Federation of South Broward, died Wednesday. He was 89.

Born in Chicago, Richter led congregations in Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan before moving to South Florida in 1960. He was president of the South Florida Chaplains Association and vice president of the Florida Chaplains Association. He was especially active in the Interfaith Council of Greater Hollywood for more than 20 years.

Most recently, he served as chaplain for Hospice by the Sea.

Richter’s family said he loved spending time helping others and his outreach in the community often became a family activity.

“When we were young, he would recruit us to sing with him in nursing homes, the psychiatric institution and the women’s prison,” said Saul Richter, one of his sons. “We were his backup and his choir.”

His sons also remember riding out Hurricane David in 1979 at McArthur High School in Hollywood because Richter had offered to stay at a shelter. The whole family, including the dog, was with him.

“They tried to have someone of the clergy in the shelters in Broward,” said his son, Joseph Richter.

Richter had monthly Shabbat services at Broward Correctional Institution, a state prison that closed in 2012. He also visited and counseled Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs, who was a death row inmate at the time. He continued visiting Jacobs in prison for 15 years; her case was eventually overturned.

“Rabbi Chaim Richter reached into the most isolated area of the prison to find me, became my champion and my connection to the joy and strength of community,” Jacobs said in a email Friday. “For me, Rabbi Chaim Richter was truly a gift from God. A hero.”

Richter also worked with people infected and affected by AIDS and HIV. In 1989, he formed a support group for patients and their families. It ran through 1993.

He also organized retreats for people with the disease, and worked with the Jewish AIDS Network, the Episcopal AIDS Network and the Catholic AIDS Network.

“He was very involved when the HIV epidemic was very prominent in the community,” said his wife of 51 years, Devera Dernis Richter. “My husband had an aura that attracted all different types of people.”

Richter was also a Florida-licensed mental health counselor, and he ran several counseling groups over the years.

RICHTER FAMILY/COURTESY Rabbi Harold “Chaim” Richter, of Hollywood, served for more than 25 years as the director of chaplaincy at the Jewish Federation of South Broward.