Sima (Redsun) Bernzweig

November 11, 1935 – May 30, 2011

Beloved wife of Albert Bernzweig. Sons Paul (Kimberley) and Michael Bernzweig. Loving grandmother of Sophia and Zachary Bernzweig. Sister of Harold (Betty) Redsun, Albert (Doris) Redsun and Morris (Jean) Redsun. Many nieces, nephews, cousins and good friends.

Proud California native born in Sonora, California, and longtime resident of San Francisco. Graduate of U.C. Berkeley. Longtime employee of the California Employment Development Department.

Donations to the charity of your choice.

Jeno (Eugene) Lorincz

October 12, 1924 – June 3, 2011

In San Francisco at age 86.  Beloved husband of Ruth Lorincz for 47 years; loving father of Matthew (Natasha) Lorincz; adoring grandfather of Joshua and Talia Lorincz.

Jeno was a Holocaust survivor. He was born in Hungary and immigrated to the United States where he studied architecture at U.C. Berkeley and Yale University and subsequently was a practicing architect in the Bay Area for almost 50 years.  Jeno will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

Funeral services were held on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at Eternal Home Cemetery, Colma, CA. Donations to Jewish Family and Children’s Services, 2150 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94115, (415) 449-1200, www.jfcs.org, or Hebrew Free Loan Association, 131 Steuart St., Suite 425, San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 546-9902, www.hflasf.org.

Milton Sills

Well-known longtime Hayward attorney Milton Sills, beloved brother to Kathryn Stiebel and devoted uncle to nieces Marice Lindberg, Shelley Stiebel and Leslie Eslick, passed away peacefully on May 31, at the age of 101. Upon graduation from the University of Chicago Law School in 1932, he began practicing in Illinois. In 1950, Milton moved to Hayward, California and joined his brother Jerome, where they practiced law together until Jerome’s death in 1968. He continued practicing law until his retirement.

Milton always stood out due to his charismatic presence, deep devotion and love for his family, passion for law, strong will and determination, and great zest for life. He is held in memory, and loved always and forever.

In accordance with his wishes, there will be no funeral or memorial services.

 

Erica Weingarten, Ph.D., an active and long-term member of the psychology community in Berkeley, who had a passion for helping others and the outdoors, passed away at her home in Rossmoor (Walnut Creek) on May 23, 2011. She was 92 years old.

Born Oct. 9, 1918 in Berlin, Germany. Erica was a talented athlete but was denied the opportunity to try out for the 1936 German Olympic Team in both the high and long jump, due to her Jewish heritage. With rising anti-Semitism, her father (the president of the Dresden Bank) boarded a train for Sweden, the day before Kristalnacht on a tip from a friend. Her mother, brother and father immigrated to England. Erica was attending a Swiss boarding school at this time, later reunited with her family in London in 1939, arriving two days before England closed its borders.

Eventually, her family came to New York and then settled in Beverly Hills, where there was a large enclave of European immigrants. As an enemy alien, Erica needed an affidavit from an American to remain in the United States.  A stranger vouched for her and sent her $80 a month until she could train and support herself as a lab technician. She never forgot the stranger’s kindness.

At a Los Angeles party, Erica met Max Weingarten, a dashing, young Austrian.  The two became a couple and when Max enlisted in the Army in 1943, they married right before he was shipped off to Europe.

While her husband was at war, Erica found her way from Los Angeles to the University of California at Berkeley. She enrolled in the graduate psychology program, along with a young Timothy Leary. Max returned from the war and studied law at Boalt Law School, while Erica completed her doctorate. She began working at the U.C. Berkeley Counseling Center. Erica did this at a time when women getting advanced degrees and working professionally was unusual and not as common as it is today.

Erica and Max settled in the Montclair section of Oakland and soon had a daughter, Toni, and then a son, Leonard. “I remember in grade school when we had to list our mother’s occupations on forms. The other kids all wrote ‘housewife,’ and I got to write this interesting word ‘psychologist,’ “ Toni recalled. “I thought that was just so cool”.

Erica introduced her husband and children to skiing and the family could often be found on the slopes near Lake Tahoe. At the time, all ski instructors were European and from the ski lifts they would shout out in German to Erica, “Wie Gehts?” (How are you?) During the summer, the family enjoyed hiking the trails near Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevada and the western United States.

Erica eventually left U.C. Berkeley and joined the staff of the City of Berkeley Mental Health program, where she often counseled runaways on Telegraph Avenue. Eventually, she opened her psychology private practice in Berkeley, where she practiced until the age of 79.

In 2001, Max and Erica moved from Oakland to Rossmoor in Walnut Creek, where Max died in 2003. At Rossmoor, Erica participated in Grandmothers for Peace, the French Club, a book club and enjoyed the early morning outdoor water aerobics class, only stopping at age 91, due to physical limitations.

Erica had a strong commitment to philanthropy and gave generously to a number of organizations, among them: Jewish Family & Children’s Serv-ices of the East Bay and the Weingarten Education Fund at Jewish Federation of the East Bay.  She also encouraged and sponsored young people toward their professional and educational goals as she always remembered the generosity of others to her when she arrived as a foreigner in America.

Erica was a loving wife, mother and friend. She is survived by her daughter, Toni Weingarten of Greenbrae, her son, Leonard Weingarten of San Rafael, daughter-in-law, Claudia Fromm and granddaughter, Courtney Casabat of San Francisco.

Donations in Erica’s name may be made to Jewish Family & Children’s Services of the East Bay, Hospice of the East Bay or the John Muir Health Foundation.

Irving Zale

Jan. 27, 1926 – Jun. 4, 2011

In San Rafael at age 85.  Beloved husband of Renee Passy-Zale and the late Phyllis Zale; loving father of Beverly (Mark) Brutzkus and Jonathan (Deborah) Zale; adoring grandfather of Ethan, Pamela and Matthew Brutzkus and Joslyn Zale.

Irving was a Holocaust survivor of forced labor camps in Poland (1941-1945). He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict (1953-1955). Irving was a member of Congregation Kol Shofar and Rodef Sholom and served on the board of the Marin Jewish Community Relations Council. Irving’s career was as an accountant for Stauffer Management Company for 26 years. He also worked for the County of Marin and the City of San Rafael.

Services were held on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at Mt. Tamalpais Cemetery, 2500 Fifth Ave., San Rafael, CA. Donations to the American Cancer Society or the Berkeley Youth Living with Disabilities organization, 1716 Milvia St., Berkeley, CA  94709 (checks payable to “Build”).