Tirzah Agassi. 1950-2008. A multi-talented, vibrant, ever-curious adventurer has passed. Tirzah Agassi died on Monday, March 24, 2008, after a valiant struggle with cancer, leaving her friends and family to remember an individual of radiant passion and joy, and extraordinary ability to engage in dialogue with people of all faiths and nationalities.

Tirzah was born in Jerusalem, and grew up in England, Hong Kong and Boston. She studied at Boston University and The Hebrew University, and received her M.A. in Psychology from Sonoma State University in California.

Tirzah worked in Israel as a psychotherapist with young people with eating disorders, and as a therapist for the terminally ill. She was a member of the Israeli Organization for Family Therapy. She worked as a journalist and music critic at the Jerusalem Post, specializing in popular music for over 10 years.

She wrote a script for a film about meetings between Israelis and Palestinians for overcoming animosity and violence, and was seeking a producer when she first became ill.

During the last few years, she developed an interest in hypnotherapy, became certified and developed a hypnotherapy practice in Northern California, working with eating disorders and smoking cessation.

Tirzah was dedicated to a vision of Jewish-Palestinian co-existence that came to her from her great-grandfather Martin Buber, who had struggled for this vision since the 1920s. She worked with Dr. Paul Mendes-Flohr on the second edition of his book, “A Land of Two Peoples,” a collection of Buber’s writings about the Israeli-Arab problem, and lectured about the book.

Tirzah’s grandmother, Margarete Buber-Neumann, was author of “Under Two Dictators,” which tells the story of her seven years as a prisoner first of Stalin and then of Hitler after being handed over under the Stalin-Hitler pact. Tirzah’s father, Josef Agassi, is a renowned philosopher, and her mother, Judith Buber Agassi, is a sociologist of women and work, and a historian of women in the Holocaust.

Tirzah is mourned by her loving parents, her brother Aaron, her many cousins, and many, many friends in America, England, Israel and Hawaii.

Memorial Service at 2:00 p.m., Friday, March 28, at Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Avenue, in Piedmont.

Nathan Mann. In Redwood City, CA, March 19, 2008. Beloved husband of Gertrude Mann. Loving father of Richard Mann (Kate Hutchins) and Suzanne Gruber (Joe). Devoted grandfather of Jeremy Gruber (Audrey), Joshua Gruber and Alexis Silver (Daniel). Dear great-grandfather of Jonah and Caleb Gruber. A native of Detroit, MI, age 91 years.

Memorial services were held at Temple Beth Jacob in Redwood City following burial at Home of Eternity Cemetery in Oakland.

Hannah Roodin Plesur. Hannah, also known as Sue, was born in Denver on March 25, 1910. She always said she rode in on Haley’s Comet. Her mother, Sophie Rousso, inventor of the hatcheck business in major hotels and restaurants, raised three daughters by herself. Because Sophie worked, the girls were on their own from very young ages.

At age 6, Hannah wandered into the dance studio run by Gracie Allen’s mother and sister on Mission Street in San Francisco and was invited to study with them. Sophie made beautiful costumes for Hannah’s recitals.

The family moved to Santa Cruz, where the girls spent much of their time on the beach and where Hannah learned to swim, which she enjoyed most of the remainder of her life. Hannah worked for Western Union and eventually joined the Al G. Barnes circus as a dancer, where she was put in charge of an elephant named Babe and also worked with some of the small people who later worked as Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz.”

She was taught to dance hula by a group of Hawaiians in the show. When the circus was sold, they brought their hula show into the hotels along the East Coast, Chicago and Montreal. Hannah danced in Vaudeville, as well, and her many professional photos were always a hit with family and friends. She told of sharing billing with Lou Costello and the actor who voiced Dopey in Disney’s “Snow White.”

She was an extra in Hollywood musicals. Her major interest was in ethnic dance and she remained interested in other cultures for much of her life. Leon Roodin caught her act, and he had always wanted to date a hula dancer. They married in 1938 and remained married until his death in 1968.

Hannah was active in her synagogue and a supporter of progressive and labor causes. She volunteered her dance talents at various events. After Leon’s death, Hannah began attending senior recreational events at her synagogue where she met Arthur Plesur, whom she married in 1973. They lived in San Jose and moved to Palo Alto in 1998.

Hannah, like many others of her generation, left school after the 8th grade. She helped to support her mother and a sister, who was blind and had been born with cerebral palsy. After her daughter, Sandra, was grown, she was able to enter College of San Mateo without having had to finish high school.

Hannah was preceded in death by spouses, Leon Roodin and Arthur Plesur; and her sisters, Pauline Dickson and Bella Rousso. She is survived by her daughter, Sandra Morey and her stepdaughters, Karen Plesur-Mazza, Marlene Miller and Janice Johnson. She has numerous step grandchildren and step great-grandchildren.

Burial services were held at Eternal Home Cemetery, Colma. Sinai Memorial Chapel.

Arnie Wasserman. Jan. 10, 1924-March 23, 2008. Arnie Wasserman passed away peacefully at his home at Rossmoor on Sunday, March 23, 2008 at the age of 84. He lived in Walnut Creek, CA, having moved to California in 1993 after living all of his life in New York City.

Arnie was born in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. and graduated from Columbia University in 1947. He served for 3 1/2 years in the army during World War II and was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Medical Administrative Corps.

He joined the Hearst Corporation in 1962, working for House Beautiful Magazine and appointed Publisher of House Beautiful’s Special Publications in 1969. He retired from Hearst in 1989.

Arnie was a tour guide and lecturer of art the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. He was the author of many published articles on art and worked as a docent at the Asian Art Museum after completing a three-year course. Arnie was on the team of the Asian Art Museum’s Community Speakers Program.

He was an avid world traveler, taking more than 20 vacation trips to foreign countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin and South America. His main hobby was sculpting, having studied at the Arts Students League of New York and at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. His work is owned by The Hearst Corporation and by collectors on both the East and West coasts.

Arnie wrote a column for the Contra Costa Times titled “Nobody Asked Me … But” which ran regularly for many years.

His wife of 52 years, the former Marilyn Maibach, died in 1999. He leaves a son, Andy of Schooleys Mountain, N.J., and a daughter, Joanne Dougan of Lexington, Mass., as well as a sister, Janet Karz of Fairport, N.Y. and two grandchildren, Nicolle Wasserman and Fiona Dougan.