Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

At 70, the maverick Silver had his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Once called "the ultimate volunteer," Silver served as federation president from 1971 to 1973 and federation trustee in 1997. He had served many terms on the board of the Jewish Community Foundation in Oakland. He was also a past president of Temple Beth Abraham and of his B'nai B'rith chapter, both in Oakland. He also raised funds for the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

He was given the "Man of Achievement Award" by the Anti-Defamation League Central Pacific Region at a 1991 tribute-dinner in Oakland.

To Rabbi Mark Diamond of Beth Abraham, he was "Uncle Ben," a dapper figure in his trademark cap. In a eulogy delivered last Friday, Diamond recalled the evening when he dedicated the Rosebud Silver Library at the synagogue, named for Silver's late wife.

"I felt that our relationship was more like family than anything else," he said. "He was the consummate gentleman, well-mannered and impeccably groomed." Silver was also "one of the finest human beings I have ever known."

The youngest of seven children in an Orthodox immigrant family, Silver grew up in the East Bay. In a 1995 Jewish Bulletin interview, he reminisced about the vibrant Jewish community that thrived in his West Oakland neighborhood, replete with synagogue, Jewish community center and numerous kosher delis.

"There's no such thing as a Jewish neighborhood anymore," he said, explaining why it was so important to him that young people become involved in Jewish organizational life.

His nephew, Alan Silver, said his uncle's commitment to the community stemmed from a childhood illness.

"His own father had died when he was quite young, leaving the family penniless," Alan Silver recounted. "When Ben was 7, he had rheumatic fever and was bedridden for a year. The Jewish Welfare Society stepped in and provided tzedakah, and he never forgot that."

In addition, "he always said that his mother, as poor as she was, always had a blue box in the house and would gather a few coins when the [Jewish National Fund] guy came around once a year to collect money for Israel."

Friends say Silver frequently quoted his mother. Among his favorite quotes was, "The mistake most people make is making big things out of little things, and forgetting to take care of the real big things," his close friend and colleague Sid Shaffer said.

Silver first went to work as a boy, selling newspapers in West Oakland. He was an insurance agent with New York Life since 1937. Shaffer, another former federation president whom Silver brought into the company, called estimates that place Silver's sales at more than $1 million a year "conservative."

His insurance business became Ben Silver and Associates, then Silver and Associates when Alan Silver joined the group. It is now The Silver Group and offers a broader spectrum of financial services.

At a national conference of insurance executives at Radio City Music Hall, Silver "knocked the roof off the house" when he sang "Young at Heart." He was 70 at the time, Shaffer said.

"It was unbelievable," Shaffer said. "Five thousand people cheering, yelling, clapping."

Silver's daughter Leanne Frankel said the song "was symbolic of his nature."

Silver was in the office working Monday of last week, the day before he died, his nephew said.

"If you hung around him long enough, you could find imperfections," Alan Silver said. "It would just take you a whole lot longer than it would with anybody else."

For Shaffer, "It was like losing a brother."

"I told him things I wouldn't tell anybody else and he told me things he never told anybody else," Shaffer said. "Every day for 25 years, we … walked around Lake Merritt. We were such good friends that neither one of us ever said, 'Stop! I've heard that story before.'"

Silver's wife, Rosebud, died unexpectedly 12 years ago at the age of 60, when the bicycle she was riding was struck by a golf cart. She was thrown to the curb and suffered massive injuries. Silver was devastated when she died the next day, friends said.

He had been predeceased by all his siblings. In addition to Alan Silver, Ben Silver is survived by daughters Alison Aiello and Frankel, both of San Francisco, and by close friend Tobe Burnstein.

Donations may be made in Silver's memory to the Rosebud Silver Library at Temple Beth Abraham, 327 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94610.