Friday, March 29th 2024   |

Obituaries

Obituaries are published at the discretion of the CCJN and are free of charge. Obituaries are a product of the editorial department and are a story of a person’s life. Editorial policy may determine the length and content of an obituary. Death notices are submitted by family members and may, for example, fully list all survivors. Death notices are never edited, but are assessed a processing fee according to length. Photos for obituaries may also carry a processing fee of $18.00, which can be waived at the discretion of the CCJN. Payments for photos can be submitted to CCJN, 3810 Nashville Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70125 or paid securely through PayPal.

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers leaker whom ‘everyone assumed’ was Jewish, dies at 92

By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

(JTA) — Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst whose leak of the classified “Pentagon Papers” exposed American deceit about the Vietnam War, led to a landmark Supreme Court on press freedoms and inspired a White House backlash that cascaded into the Watergate scandal, died Friday at age 92.

Ellsberg had announced in March that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Although raised by parents of Ashkenazi descent...

Ben Helfgott, one of two Holocaust survivors to compete in the Olympics, dies at 93

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — Ben Helfgott, one of two known Holocaust survivors to go on to compete in the Olympics, died Friday at 93.

Helfgott survived the Holocaust as a teenager, and he went on to become a champion weightlifter and a champion of Holocaust education. He was knighted in 2018.

“Sir Ben Helfgott was one of the most inspirational people I have known,” said Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim...

Robert Gottlieb, legendary editor who championed Joseph Heller, Robert Caro and Chaim Potok, dies at 92

By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

(JTA) — Robert Gottlieb, the legendary literary editor who shepherded into print and best-sellerdom such 20th-century classics as Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22,” Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker” and Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen,” died Wednesday at age 92.

Few editors of his generation had as big an impact on the literary culture, from his time as editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster to his later association with Alfred A. Knopf...

Belle Brock Adelman-Cannon, 17, is killed in tragic accident

BELLE BROCK ADELMAN-CANNON, an exceptional 17-year-old student at Benjamin Franklin High School, who made an impressive mark in her short years, was killed in a tragic accident on Saturday, June 3.

Adelman-Cannon, who identified as non-binary with they/them pronouns, died after being struck by a school bus. According to accounts given to the CCJN, Belle was wearing headphones at the time, which may have prevented her hearing the approaching vehicle.

...

Water Institute’s president Justin Ehrenwerth dies at 44; memorial here Sunday

JUSTIN REID EHRENWERTH, an internationally recognized expert on coastal policy known for leading the Louisiana-based Water Institute, died on May 11 at his home in New Orleans. He was 44.

Appointed as the second president of the Water Institute in 2017, Ehrenwerth committed himself to protecting the Gulf and waterways across the country, but also advised government officials in Singapore, the Netherlands and France.

Born in Pittsburgh, he attended Shady...

Jonathan Omer-Man, leader in Jewish meditation who met with the Dalai Lama, dies at 89

By JACKIE HAJDENBERG

(JTA) — Jonathan Omer-Man, a rabbi and pioneer in Jewish meditation whose meeting with the Dalai Lama in 1990 was described in Rodger Kamenetz’s best-selling book “The Jew in the Lotus,” died on Tuesday. He was 89.

Omer-Man was part of a delegation of Jews, including rabbis of various denominations, who went to Dharamshala, India as part of an interfaith dialogue with the exiled leader of Tibetan...

Meir Shalev and Yehonatan Geffen were Israeli cultural royalty. Their deaths leave a hole on the left.

By GILAD HALPERN

(JTA) — Over the last few months, since the far-right government announced its plans for an overarching constitutional overhaul, Israel’s embattled liberal camp has experienced a renaissance. Unprecedented mobilization on the part of protesting masses, business leaders and the IDF vanguard has left the government in disarray and, in the wake of a seemingly endless string of electoral defeats, invigorated the left to an extent that it...

Rabbi Harold Kushner, whose works of practical theology were best-sellers, dies at 88

By BEN HARRIS and PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — Rabbi Harold Kushner, one of the most influential congregational rabbis of the 20th century whose works of popular theology reached millions of people outside the synagogue, has died.

Kushner, who turned 88 on April 3, died Friday in Canton, Massachusetts, just miles from the synagogue where he had been rabbi laureate for more than three decades.

Kushner’s fairly conventional trajectory as a...

Jerry Springer, son of Jewish refugees whose eponymous talk show was known for conflict, dies at 79

By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

(JTA) — Jerry Springer, the son of Jewish refugees who set aside a promising political career to become the ringleader of a circus-like syndicated talk show featuring feuding couples, angry exes and frequent fisticuffs, died Thursday morning at his home in the Chicago area.

A family spokesperson told TMZ that Springer, who was 79, had been battling a “brief illness.” Springer was a proud alumnus of Tulane...

Harry Belafonte, singer and civil rights activist who popularized ‘Hava Nagila’ in the US, dies at 96

By LISA KEYS

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Barrier-smashing singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who once boasted of being “the most popular Jew in America” because of his rendition of a Hebrew classic, died Tuesday at his longtime Upper West Side home. He was 96.

The New York City native was the one of the first Black artists to achieve widespread commercial success in the...