Robert is survived by his beloved wife, Katherine Kreusser, his children, Carol Young Vella (Jason), Adam Richard Young(Jennifer), and four grandchildren Eliza, Natalia, Jacob and Emily, and his sister Pamela Young.
Robert was reserved and thoughtful, shared what mattered and did what was right. He had a sharp wit and uniquely dry sense of humor. He was a devoted father and grandfather, mentor, teacher, and calm voice to help with any issue. The breadth of his passions and richness of his life matched the depth of his intellect and curiosity. He loved literature, art, music, food, travel, and he assembled unique collections. He advocated an active lifestyle from a young age and passed on his love of the outdoors.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, August 4th at 10:30a.m. at Berger Memorial Funeral Home in St. Louis, MO.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, or the charity of your choice.
Ethel Mae Lerner (Morrison) died peacefully at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 19, 2023 at the age of 94. Ethel was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 3,1929. She married Jerome (Jerry) Lerner in 1948. Together they raised four children, thoroughly enjoying life and their many dear friendships in St. Louis. They were long-time members of Congregation Shaare Emeth. Ethel’s beloved husband Jerry pre-deceased her in October, 2017.
Ethel was an amateur photographer in high school, took photographs for her school’s publications, learned how to fly a Piper Cub after graduation, and was a professional women’s shoe model (size 4). After Ethel retired from West County Famous-Barr’s personnel department, she and Jerry loved antiquing together, accumulating several treasured collections–cookie jars, children’s toys, and salt and pepper shakers favorites among them.
Ethel’s greatest joy was caring for her family. She was the quintessential mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. A wonderful cook, she happily spent countless hours in the kitchen making everyone’s beloved matzo ball soup, brisket, twice-baked potatoes, challah dressing, buckeye balls and, of course, blintzes.
Ethel adored her husband and family and was adored and beloved by them in return. She is survived by her sons, Gary Lerner (Cheryl) of Omaha, Dean Lerner (Deana) of Des Moines, and two daughters, Donna Wilensky (Stan-deceased) and Eve Rudolph (Don) who reside in St. Louis. She reveled in the company of her grandchildren (Nicole, Michael, Matthew, Alec, Scott, David, Mark, Molly, Zachary, Kayla, and Carly) and great-grandchildren (Sam, Oliver, Louie, Sebastian, Jonah, Charlie, Kinzie, Nash, Eleanor, Grant, Gavin, Olive, and Lincoln). St. Louis fun was her specialty.
A graveside memorial service at the New Mt. Sinai Cemetery (8430 Gravois Rd. St. Louis, MO 63123) will be held on Friday December 8, at 12:00 noon.
The family wishes to express their heartfelt gratitude to Laurie and all of the wonderful caregivers at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home in Omaha, NE, where remembrances may be directed (www.rbjh.com).
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Myra Bomze
September 10, 1934 - December 08, 2023
Myra Esther Levine Bomze passed away peacefully on December 8, 2023 at 89 years old. She was born on September 10, 1934 at Hunts Point Hospital in Bronx New York to Ruth Gallomp Levine and Milton Levine. She received a BA in Art/Education from Hunter College in New York and her New York State Teaching Certificate in 1956.
Myra is preceded in death by her husband Joe Bomze and her brother Larry Levine. She is survived by her son Jon Bomze, daughter-in-law Chris Bomze (Carlie), daughter Shelley Bomze, daughter Kathy Bomze McCartney, son-in-law Steve McCartney, granddaughter Sara (Chris) Gawenda, great granddaughter Claire Gawenda, sister-in-law Susie Bomze, sister-in-law Ellie Bomze, sister-in-law Rebecca Levine, brother-in-law Hal Bomze, brother-in-law Ira Bomze, and a host of nieces and nephews.
Myra will be most remembered for her great beauty, sharp wit and intellect, creativity and artistic ability, love of animals, particularly miniature schnauzers, and her exceptional sense of humor.
Her visitation is Thursday, December 14, between 9-10:00 a.m. with funeral services beginning at 10:00 a.m., both held at Berger Memorial Chapel, 9430 Olive Blvd. Interment will immediately follow services at Mt. Sinai Cemetery, 8430 Gravois Road, 63123. Please see Live Stream details below.
In lieu of flowers, donations are preferred to the Humane Society of Missouri and Meals on Wheels of America.
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Norma Lee Rader (nee Hollander) passed away on January 13, 2024, at the age of 89. In her final moments, she was surrounded by family and close friends.
She was born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 9, 1934, to Kalman and Elsie Hollander, the second of two daughters.
Growing up, she was outgoing, involved, smart and hard-working. She earned an academic scholarship to Washington University, studying social work. In 1955, she married Edward Stanley Rader, leaving college to work and earn enough to support them both as he finished medical school.
Between 1958 and 1964, Norma and Ed had three children – Nancy, Jeff and Dan. In addition to her fierce love and unwavering support for her husband, Norma dedicated her life to her three children, teaching them important life lessons and encouraging them to find and pursue their passions.
After the children left the nest, Norma turned her creative talents to knitting. Over time, she assembled a small team of knitters who, over the course of 18 years delivered more than 15,000 hand-knit scarves, hats and gloves to children in need.
Norma will be remembered for her courage, her kind heart, and her giving nature. She was a voracious reader and a lifelong learner. And she was an exceptional friend. She'll be missed by all who had the good fortune of knowing her.
She was preceded in death by Kalman and Elsie Hollander and her sister Betty. She was survived by her husband Edward Rader, her daughter Nancy Inhofe, her sons Jeff Rader (spouse Sarah) and Dan Rader (partner Hoai Huynh), and her grandchildren Glade Inhofe, Cole Inhofe and Anna Rader.
Services: Services will be held at the small chapel at Congregation Shaare Emeth, 11645 Ladue Rd, St. Louis, MO 63141, on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at 1:00 pm. Visitation begins at 12:30.
In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution in Norma's memory to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Washington University in St. Louis or the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry.
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Myra Levine
May 5, 1941 - January 18, 2024
Beloved wife of the late Robert Levine; dear mother of Lisa Levine, Michael Levine (Licia Terranova), and Scott Levine (Margaretta Mendenhall), and Paula McMaster; dear grandmother of Isabel, Gabrielle, Charles, and Eliana; dear daughter of the late Frieda and the late Sol Stetin; dear sister of the late Sondra Gash (Ira); dear sister-in-law of Arthur Levine (Marilyn) and the late Richard Levine (Joanne); dear aunt, cousin, and friend to many.
Myra cared deeply for her family and she had an especially great love of children, working in childcare settings where she touched the lives of many families in her community. She had a rare gift for making each person feel welcome and at home—and that gift came out of her commitment to inclusivity, and her genuine interest in others. Her smile was absolutely infectious, and she smiled often, lighting up the world around her. We will miss her dearly.
Funeral Service Sunday, January 21 at 1 PM at the Mausoleum at New Mt Sinai Cemetery, 8430 Gravois. Graveside interment follows in New Mt. Sinai Cemetery.
Memorial contributions preferred to Central Reform Congregation, 5020 Waterman Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108 or the American Labor Museum, 83 Norwood Street, Haledon, NJ 07508.
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Bruce S. Feldacker
June26, 1940 - February 15, 2024
Beloved husband of Barbara Feldacker for more than 60 years. Dear father and father-in-law of Robert (Valerie Garver); Debbie (Rob) Granick; and Caryl Feldacker (Dan Grossman). Loving grandfather of Jacob, Amy, Talia, Rachael, Eowyn, Matai and Natan. Dear brother of Linda (Barry) Pass and uncle to Greg (Yukari) Pass and Kevin (Libby) Pass.
As a dedicated lawyer for union workers, Bruce sought justice for his labor law clients, embodying kindness and compassion throughout his career as advocate, attorney, and mediator. Bruce was a champion of his family and friends; a world-traveler in body and spirit; and possessed an unquenchable thirst for knowledge about people, places, and politics.
He was an avid collector of labor art, donating over 500 works for The Bruce and Barbara Feldacker Labor Art Collection at the St. Louis Mercantile Library and serving as a docent at the St. Louis Art Museum.
Services: Funeral service Sunday, February 18th at 10:30am at Congregation Shaare Emeth, 11645 Ladue Road, with interment to follow at New Mount Sinai Cemetery, 8430 Gravois Rd. St. Louis, MO 63123. No visitation prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the Saint Louis Mercantile Library Association, EIN: 43-0694564 or the charity of your choice. Visit Berger Memorial Chapel for more information.
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Marilyn Rae Fox
July 29, 1934 - February 18, 2024
Marilyn Fox, who brought a gentle but determined and down-to-earth touch to the leadership of many St. Louis organizations over a period of decades, died peacefully Sunday of natural causes, surrounded by her loved ones. She was 89.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 11 a.m. at Temple Israel in Creve Coeur. Burial will be private.
Beginning in the 1980s and continuing for more than 30 years, Mrs. Fox was a fixture atop more than a dozen St. Louis area cultural, educational and social service organizations, from the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Missouri History Museum to the Old Newsboys Day Campaign for Kids to the United Way of Greater St. Louis. The organizations with which she was perhaps most closely identified over the years, however, were St. Louis Variety, the Children’s Charity; Webster University; and the Jewish Community Center.
At St. Louis Variety, she chaired the annual fundraising gala for more than 20 years, raising millions of dollars on behalf of children with disabilities. Her devotion to children with special needs and their families was unmatched. For a woman and mother who was so accomplished on the world’s stage, she possessed a particular admiration, humility, and respect for mothers of children with special needs.
“Marilyn effortlessly forged connections with Variety Kids, sharing in their steadfast optimism,” notes Variety Board Chair, Mike Lefton.
At Webster she served for years on the board of trustees until stepping down about a decade ago. At the Jewish Community Center, she was elected, in 1992, as the first female president, and later also chaired a successful $18 million capital campaign for a satellite facility in Chesterfield. The Marilyn Fox Building, a fitness and education center, opened in 1997.
“She was everywhere, and she was always prepared to say ‘yes,’” said Barry Rosenberg, who, as chief executive of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, worked with her for many years. “There was hardly a worthy cause in St. Louis, in the Jewish community or outside it, that she wasn’t prepared to get behind. She had a vision for community. And she was willing to get down in the trenches to see her efforts through.
“Her leadership was sound, humble, and moral,” he added. “She exhibited a very helpful skepticism. She’d ask a lot of good questions, and she could stand her ground. At the same time, she was extraordinarily gracious and inclusive. She’d talk to anyone. She’d ask about your family. She truly cared about people.
“And she got results.”
That assessment was echoed by Peter Raven, president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, on whose Board of Trustees Mrs. Fox served in the 1990s. “As she did for so many St. Louis organizations, Marilyn quietly and effectively made things happen,” he said. “She was a consistent source of ideas – for collaborations with scientists in other countries, for example — and she had the unusual ability to turn her ideas into realities.”
Born Marilyn Widman in St. Louis, she was one of three children of the late Arden Widman and Celia Bass, both Lithuanian immigrants. Her father was a general manager for a national retail store chain. She grew up in the Delmar Loop, which she recalled fondly as a lively, friendly neighborhood where she made childhood friendships that lasted a lifetime. She graduated from University City High School.
During her senior year in high school, she met a recent Washington University graduate, Sam Fox, at a party. At age 19, after just one semester of her own at Washington University, she married the young man, and left the university so she could get a job and contribute to the couple’s support.
The next year, however, she became pregnant with the couple’s first child. Over the next decade, she and Mr. Fox became the parents of, in order, Cheri, Pamela, Jeff, Greg and Steven. All but Greg, who died in 2016, survive her.
About 15 years after the birth of her youngest, with the children established and her husband’s business, Harbour Group, thriving, Mrs. Fox found her way to community work, and never looked back.
For most of her life, she once said, she had not thought of herself as a leader. But the more she got involved with community activities, and the more strongly she felt about them, the more capable she felt about putting herself forward.
And put herself forward she did. Among the other organizations she served over the years were the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, where she served as president and campaign chair of the Women’s Division as well as board secretary and a member of the executive committee; Jewish Family & Children’s Services; Central Agency for Jewish Education; the Girl Scouts, where she was vice president of the board and a member of the executive committee; the National Council of Community and Justice; Women of Achievement, where she was board chair for two terms from 2003 to 2005; and more.
To all of these organizations she brought a leadership style that was soft-spoken and humble but also firm. Adding to her effectiveness were her genuine interest in others and a lack of interest in self-promotion.
Mrs. Fox’s service brought her numerous awards and honors. She was a Woman of Achievement in 1993 and the Variety Club’s Woman of the Year in 1996. She received the Brotherhood Sisterhood Award from the National Conference of Community and Justice in 1998 and the Magen Ami “Star of My People” award from the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis in 2001. The Old Newsboys gave her their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. In 2009 she received the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Missouri History Museum; in 2012, the Visionary Award from Webster University; and in 2013 an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Washington University.
Along with her husband she received an honorary Doctorate of Public Service from St. Louis University in 2000 and the university’s Sword of Ignatius Loyola Award in 2009; the Excellence in Philanthropy Award in 2004 from the Arts and Education Council, and the Whitney and Jane Harris Community Service Award, also in 2004, from Washington University.
None of it went to her head. She remained the same unassuming, gentle person she had always been, and kept her focus – despite all her community service – on her husband, her children, her grandchildren and her great- grandchildren.
“I hope the theme of my life,” she said in a 2015 interview, “was living in happiness and teaching that to my kids. I hope it was being part of the community and trying to help people and be kind to other people. I hope that’s what it was.”
Surviving are her husband, Sam Fox; daughters Cheri Fox and Pamela (Aba) Fox Claman of Israel; daughter-in-law Merle (the late Greg), of St. Louis; sons Jeff (Lotta) and Steven (Nan), of St. Louis; 15 grandchildren; and 4 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a charity of your choice.
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David I. Berland, M. D.
August 1, 1947 - February 18, 2024
David I. Berland, M.D., 76, died peacefully in his home on February 18, 2024. David was born in St. Louis on August 1, 1947 to the late Dr. Harry and Mildred Berland. He graduated from Ladue High School, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Missouri School of Medicine.
Dr. Berland devoted his career as a child psychiatrist to increasing access to high quality mental health care. He completed his residency training in Adult Psychiatry and a speciality in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the renowned Menninger Foundation in Topeka, KS. He then returned to St. Louis to establish the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry training program at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. He later opened a private practice in Clayton. Dr. Berland held leadership positions in the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry locally and nationally.
David’s friends and family will always remember the way he combined his irreverent sense of humor with kindness and empathy – and most of all his hard work to leave the world a better place. David was a political activist for peace and equality, beginning with his opposition to the Vietnam War. After retirement, he increased his role in St. Louis politics, extensively phone banking for multiple candidates, lobbying in Jefferson City for education and the needs of born children, and learning previously unexamined parts of the city’s turbulent racial history while inviting others to do the same.
David was a member of Temple Emanuel, a mentor and a mensch. He was an unwaveringly passionate, lifelong fan of the Cardinals and the Muny Opera, and he single-handedly raised the quality of wine drinking and jazz appreciation among his cohorts. Daily neighborhood walks, weekly breakfast club, monthly Bordeaux meetings and annual traditions like Christmas eggnog, Eckert’s peaches and lobster in Rhode Island always brought a smile to his face.
The heart of his life was his family. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Elaine; his daughters Kate (Joe Shear) and Rachel (Todd Kiefer); his grandchildren, Eleanor (7), Josephine (5), Isaac (4), and Theodore (1); his sister Marilyn Collier (Richard) and sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, and decades-long and new friends across the country and around the world who made up his tree of life.
Services will be held at Temple Emanuel, 12166 Conway Rd, St. Louis, MO 63141 on Wednesday, February 21st at 10:30 AM with visitation starting at 10 AM. Interment will follow at New Mt. Sinai Cemetery. 8430 Gravois, St. Louis, MO 63123.
The family asks that donations and advocacy be made on behalf of organizations of your choice, particularly those providing services to promote the well-being of children and their families and the disenfranchised, especially in his beloved St. Louis, such as the ACLU of Missouri. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE
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