Jewish News

(JTA)—Murray Polner, the founding editor of the liberal Jewish magazine Present Tense who served as its editor until it folded, has died. Polner, who also authored or edited eight books, died on Thursday, May 30 at the age of 91. He was a resident of Great Neck, New York. Polner founded Present Tense in 1973 [...]

Fairfax, Va.—Rita S. Meschel, formerly of Norfolk and Virginia Beach passed April 6, 2019 in Fairfax, Va. She was predeceased by Harry Meschel and is survived by her sons Dr. Philip Frank, Robert Frank, Jeff Meschel; and daughters Marsha Frank, Maida Gutterman, and Lynne Bovenzi and many grand and great-grandchildren. She was interred at Woodlawn [...]

Tucson, Arizona—Susan E. Maggiora, 67, died suddenly on May 30, 2019. Susan was born on June 7, 1951 in Portsmouth, Virginia. She graduated from Churchland High School in 1969, subsequently getting her degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1973. Following school, she moved to Buffalo, N.Y. and worked at the National Oceanic [...]

Portsmouth—Marsha Ornoff Merkle, 69, passed away unexpectedly Wednesday, May 22, 2019. She was born in Portsmouth and was the daughter of the late Melvin and Frances Ornoff. She is survived by her loving husband of 50 years, Marvin Merkle; two daughters, Jenefer Dayle Snyder and husband Michael and Heather Keller Umberger and husband Troy; three [...]

Virginia Beach—Shirley Belkov Lipman, a secretary to two rabbis who, with her late husband, founded an art materials and picture framing store in Maryland, died Tuesday, June 4, in Virginia Beach after suffering a stroke. She was 95. Born Shirley Belkov in Miami, she was the third daughter and sixth child of Ukrainian immigrants who [...]

Virginia Beach—Barbara Horwitz passed away Sunday, June 2, 2019, at the age of 92. She was born December 6, 1926 in Queens N.Y., the daughter of Joseph and Frances Goldstein (of blessed memory). Barbara earned a B.S. in Chemistry at Queens College and an M.S. in Education at NYU. She taught school in NYC, becoming [...]

Philadelphia, Pa.—Laurel Kanner Gutterman of Philadelphia, passed away on June 4, 2019. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, the older child of Rubell (Gevitz) and Herbert Lee Kanner. She graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn and seeking a new environment, enrolled in the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She [...]

BOSTON (JTA)—Herman Wouk, the bestselling Orthodox Jewish author whose literary career spanned nearly seven decades and who helped usher Judaism into the American mainstream, died Friday, May 17 at the age of 103. Wouk was the author of two dozen novels and works of nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Caine Mutiny from 1951, which [...]

Norfolk—Larry Melvin Saunders passed away at the age of 84 on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at Harbor’s Edge. Born in 1935 in Norfolk, Virginia, he was the son of Bertha and Edward Saunders, of blessed memory. He spent most of his life living in the Tidewater area, except for his four years as a University [...]

Virginia Beach—Irene Mandel Blum, 95, passed away on May 10, 2019 at Beth Sholom Village. Irene was born in Baltimore, Md., on July 12, 1923 to Joseph and Rachel (Solomon) Mandel. The family moved to Norfolk where Irene attended Maury High School. She was a life member of B’nai Brith Women, Hadassah, Beth Sholom Home, [...]