Obituary: David Marcus

Born Cork, August 21, 1924. Died Dublin, May 9, 2009, aged 84.

As editor of the New Irish Writing pages of The Irish Press for 18 years, David Marcus was mentor to a generation of writers.

The grandson of Lithuanian immigrants, he came from a talented family, with three brothers and a sister surviving him. His uncle, Gerald Goldberg, was an eminent barrister and arts patron, his brother Louis became one of Ireland’s foremost documentary film makers. He himself was a talented pianist with a love of Mozart.

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Obituary: Dolly Phillips

Anglo-Jewry’s longest serving volunteer, Dolly Phillips became involved in the Manchester Jewish Soup Kitchen in 1920, aged 17, writes Yaakov Wise.

Born Dolly Franks, her voluntary service career spanned nearly 90 years. She retired in 2004, aged 101, but still made occasional visits to inspect conditions and instruct staff.

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Obituary: Edith Hahn-Beer

The extraordinary tale of Edith Hahn-Beer only came to light in 1997 when, aged 83, she sold her collection of papers at auction to raise money for an eye operation.

Sotheby’s waived their ban on Nazi material because of this unique case of a Jewish woman saved by a Nazi.

One of three sisters, Edith Hahn was was encouraged by her widowed mother to study law but her final qualification was prevented by the 1938 Nazi takeover of Austria, the Anschluss.

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Obituary: John Chillag

Auschwitz survivor John Chillag co-founded Leeds Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association, writes John Fisher.

His family left Vienna after the 1934 Nazi attempt to overthrow Austria’s government. John’s father, Jozsef Csillag, joined the family business in Gyor, western Hungary, based on building materials and contracting.

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Obituary: Moss Kaye

A leading 1940s jazz player, Moss Kaye switched careers to become a well known north-west London estate agent.

One of eight children, he grew up in Fournier Street in London’s East End. His parents, Max and Bella Kauffman, born in Russia and Poland, came to Britain around 1907 and married in 1915. Max worked as a furrier on the ground floor of their home, which also provided a stiebl.

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Obituary: Ralph Cooperman

Champion fencer Ralph Cooperman was among the most talented of the small post-war group of young Jewish fencers who successfully competed in the 1950 Third Maccabiah, the first games held in Israel, and who went on to represent Great Britain in world championships and Olympic Games.

The group included Allan Jay, who won the 1959 World Foil Championship and two silver medals at Rome in 1960.

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Obituary: Edward Levine

Nationally renowned cancer expert Dr Edward Levine had a brilliant career both academically and as a caring and much-loved doctor to his patients.

Brought up with his two brothers in a traditionally Orthodox family in Hull, he was educated at Hymers College and read medicine at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Westminster Medical School, qualifying in 1983.

After junior appointments at Westminster Hospital and the then London Hospital, Whitechapel, he settled in Prestwich after marrying Tanya Sterrie in 1988.

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Obituary: Avraham Kahaneman

Scion of a well-known rabbinic family, Rabbi Avraham Kahaneman continued his father’s pioneering work, heading what was to become the world’s largest yeshivah complex — the Bnei Brak-based Ponevitch Yeshivah, writes Mordechai Beck.

Proving himself a worthy son of a charismatic father, at 16 he was admitted to the prestigious Polish yeshivah of Mir, where he was an outstanding student. In 1939, threatened with conscription in the shadow of the Second World War, he moved to Palestine to continue his studies at the relocated Mir Yeshivah in Jerusalem.

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Obituary: Daniel Falkner

A survivor of the Warsaw ghetto and Dachau, Daniel Falkner became a hugely generous benefactor to Jewish science students.

Educated in Rzeszow, a town with a thriving Jewish community, he was unable to study science, due to the quota system and a lack of means. But during military service he became a reserve officer before joining an import-export firm in Warsaw.

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Obituary: Claude Berri

Legendary figure of French cinema Claude Berri, who died in Paris on January 12, aged 74, acted in, wrote, directed and produced over 100 films, including Le Vieil Homme and L’Enfant (1967), based on his wartime experience as a Jewish child sent for safety to an elderly antisemitic rural couple, who take a shine to him. Born Claude Berel Langmann in Paris, he first worked in the family furrier business. His most successful films were Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, both made in 1986.

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Obituary: Pearl Lang

Choreographer and exponent of modern dance Pearl Lang, who died in New York on February 24, aged 87, joined Martha Graham’s dance company at 19 and formed her own troupe at 34, creating 59 works and co-founding a dance centre. Her dance creations included The Possessed, based on the Yiddish drama The Dybbuk, and she also gave readings of Yiddish poetry.

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Obituary: Lee Annenberg

American socialite and philanthropist Lee Annenberg, who died in Rancho Mirage, California, on March 12, aged 91, made her mark in the UK as wife of the American ambassador, Walter Annenberg, appointed by Richard Nixon in 1969. Born Leonore Cohn into the founding family of Columbia Pictures, she married the newspaper magnate, her third husband, in 1951. She was his second wife. They became a firm partnership until his death in 2002.

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Obituary: George Clare

Writer George Clare sprang to public attention in 1981 when he published his poignant and detailed account of his Viennese parents’ and grandparents’ lives, Last Waltz in Vienna.

Its overnight success, in Austria as well as Britain, staggered him. He had written the book to explain to his children the background that formed their lost heritage.

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Obituary: Dan Scemama

A talented journalist, editor and TV news presenter, Dan Scemama gained an early reputation as a professional who never compromised his integrity, writes Mordechai Beck.

Tunisian-born, with two sisters who survive him, he completed his army service in Israel and then studied TV journalism in Paris.

His father, André, a founder-member of Israel’s Foreign Press Association in 1957, was Israel correspondent for French radio, TV and the newspaper Le Monde. Returning to Israel in 1972, Dan Scemama began his long career with Israel Television.

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Obituary: Philip Bloom

Active in the Guild of Jewish Journalists and as a lay conductor of religious services, Philip Bloom first studied dentistry.

The son of an insurance agent, he was seven when his mother died, leaving him and a 14-year-old brother. He was always affected by his early loss.

From Manchester Grammar School, he went to dental school at Manchester University. But the outbreak of the Second World War changed his career.

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