Obituaries are supported by a generous grant from Sinai Memorial Chapel.
Paul Canin
April 28, 1923–April 12, 2024
Paul Canin, a creative and determined force of nature, died on April 12, 2024, two weeks short of his 101st birthday, on the Berkeley Marina floating home he designed, surrounded by his loving family and the diverse artistic treasures he and his wife Helen created.
Paul was born on April 28, 1923, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Russian immigrants, Alice Nibur and Samuel Canin. Scholarship studies at NYU, Cooper Union and Pratt were interrupted by WW2 when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Serving as a B-24 navigator, Paul was shot down on his fourth bombing mission during a raid on oil refineries near Auschwitz, miraculously surviving a bailout from the burning aircraft along with four other crew members. He was captured and held for eight months as a prisoner of war in Barth, Germany, an experience memorialized in an extraordinary diary he illustrated with watercolors and pencil sketches while imprisoned.
After the war, Paul completed training as an industrial designer but ultimately returned to Pratt to complete a degree in architecture — a professional match made in heaven.
The other remarkable match of luck and love was meeting Helen Blumberg, also from Brooklyn, at a Jewish Community Center dance when she was 16 and he, 22. After falling out of touch, they reconnected via mail for a year in 1951, married in 1952 and, over the next 72 years of their marriage, shared countless creative, artistic, building, travel and family adventures. They raised three children, instilling in them values of integrity, commitment, hard work and adventure. After almost 35 years in the Hudson River Valley, Paul and Helen moved to the S.F. Bay area and have lived the past 35 years on a floating home in the Berkeley Marina.
Paul leaves behind a legacy of remarkable architectural design achievements in the U.S. and Europe with many clients becoming life-long friends. When he could no longer sculpt, make silver jewelry or work in his shop, baking and cooking became his passion. Paul demonstrated much resilience and had the good fortune of great genes and much luck.
The family is deeply appreciative of the Oakland and San Francisco Veterans Association Cardiology and Home-Based Primary Care teams, and to Hospice of the East Bay for remarkably attentive, compassionate and quality care.
Paul is survived by his wife, Helen Canin of Berkeley, CA; his children, Jeff Canin (Susanne Canin) of Kirkland, WA, Dan Canin of Palmdale, CA, and Lisa Canin (Bob Hoffman) of San Anselmo, CA; and grandchildren, Sam Canin Hoffman, Ari Canin Hoffman, Matthew Canin and Anna Canin.
Paul would have requested any donations in his memory be made to Southern Poverty Law Center or Doctors without Borders.
Marvin Barron Ellenberg
Sept. 24, 1936–Feb. 20, 2024
Marv Ellenberg passed away peacefully on Feb. 20, 2024, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Until the end, Marv was able to enjoy his favorite things in life: being with his wife Joyce and their family, appreciating art and music, rooting for the Cal Bears, cracking jokes, and hanging out with his dog Lucy on his lap.
Marv was born in Stockton where he developed into a very talented young violinist, becoming part of the Stockton Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14. He was also a gifted chess player and traveled with the adult Stockton Chess Club to compete in tournaments throughout the Central Valley. After high school, Marv made an abrupt switch from pursuing a career in music to striving toward becoming a lawyer. He graduated from UC Berkeley and then Berkeley (Boalt) Law School.
Cal is also where Marv met the love of his life, Joyce Jaffe, at a Young Democrats for Stevenson event in 1960. They married soon after and completed their family with daughters Lori and Linda, and a number of loving dogs throughout the years.
Marv joined the law firm Golden, Stefan (and later Ellenberg) in the 1960s and continued with the practice, in its many forms, until retirement. He made a conscious decision to balance his successful career with his family, and made it home for dinner every night with his family at 6:30. He loved to travel, and he and Joyce visited over 80 countries. They also took advantage of all the great opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area and were frequently enjoying their subscriptions to the Symphony, Berkeley Rep, the Oakland Speaker Series, the Jewish Film Festival and endless other cultural events.
They lived in Orinda and then Moraga for 60+ years, where Marv had wonderful lifelong friends, including a monthly bridge group that started in the 1960s and continued to meet until the pandemic! They joined Temple Isaiah in 1968 and Marv was grateful for the community that they found there.
Marv was both a community leader and a volunteer who pitched in where needed. As a longtime member of his Rotary Club in Oakland, Marv served as president in the early ’90s and was an active volunteer, rarely missing a meeting. He and Joyce enjoyed meeting Rotarians around the world while traveling to International Rotary conventions and events.
Marv was predeceased by his parents, Gertrude and Morris Ellenberg, as well as his brother, Dr. Alexander “Sandy” Ellenberg. In addition to his loving daughters, Lori Edelstone and Linda Rafferty, he was so delighted that they each married men that he considered sons — Mark Edelstone and Scott Rafferty. He was proud of and grateful for his four grandchildren: Steven Edelstone, Emily Edelstone, Annie Rafferty, and Melina Rafferty. He is also survived by four wonderful nephews and their families: Steve Ellenberg, Gary Ellenberg, Steve Aronson, and Jeff Aronson; as well as his three sisters-in-law: Maureen Ellenberg, Barbara Aronson, and Carol Jaffe.
Funeral services were previously held. Donations in his memory may be made to Temple Isaiah, Diablo Valley Hadassah, or the charity of your choice.
Benjamin Erickson
Feb. 2, 1981–May 2, 2024
Benjamin Alcalay Erickson, (aka Big Ben or Bennen), resident of Los Angeles, passed away peacefully in San Francisco on May 2, 2024.
Born in Berkeley, CA, February 2, 1981. Age 43 years. Survived by his loving wife Ivana Lisjak Erickson; dear father of Ozzy Erickson; beloved son of Oz Erickson and Rina Alcalay; dear brother of Jessica Alcalay Erickson. Benjamin was a Marketing Representative for Emerald Fund; attended University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. Benjamin loved the ocean, soccer, basketball, traveling, hiking, spending time with his family and friends, making everyone laugh, dancing and adventure.
A private memorial service is to be held.
Benjamin was larger than life. He was kind, generous, charming, brave, and fiercely loyal to his family and friends. May his memory be a blessing.
Sinai Memorial | (415) 921-3636
Henry Klein
Jan. 30, 1939–Feb. 22, 2024
Henry was born in 1939 in Berlin. His Jewish parents, Sidonie and Lemel Klein, were trying to immigrate in light of the November 1938 Kristallnacht event. Lemel had recently expanded his textile business to include tailors to make men’s suits. His business was closed down, yet Nazi soldiers came in the back door to have suits made.
While Lemel was in Hamburg looking for tickets on a ship to someplace in the world for his family and some relatives, a Gestapo officer came to the Klein home to tell Sidonie that Lemel had an appointment at the Gestapo office coming up.
Henry’s family had to flee, leaving their home and business behind. They had to go to the one place where no visa was required: Shanghai, China.
Henry caught polio at 9 or 10 months old in Shanghai, and his mother caught amoebic dysentery. They suffered from these diseases their whole lives. Henry’s legs were affected and he was not able to learn to walk.
The Japanese attacked and occupied Shanghai. They forced the European immigrants, mostly Jewish, into a ghetto called Hong Kew. Henry was wheeled around in a baby stroller. A Chinese lady was hired to carry Henry to the British Charity School in the ghetto, where Henry learned English. Unlike most of the refugees, Lemel was able to earn a living by buying and selling cloth from his ghetto home. He sold cloth to Chinese people and Japanese military men without speaking either language.
Lemel was able to save money for Henry’s trip to the U.S. to go to the polio treatment center built by President Franklin Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Georgia. Henry was cared for by another passenger on the ship to New York. His father’s cousin picked him up and took him to Warm Springs, where he lived for six months. He had surgery on one leg that was longer than the other, then was fitted with crutches and braces, and voila! Henry was on his feet and very able to walk, run, and climb stairs. He learned to swim by the power of his arms. He said he felt like he was born when he was upright.
Unfortunately Henry’s relative in New York did not want to take care of him and sent Henry to an orphanage in St. Louis, Missouri, where he got no visitors for three years and did not hear from his parents. His father’s cousin accepted money from Lemel, not informing him that Henry was not in his home, but in an orphanage. Henry had childhood depression; he would not eat and did not grow enough. (Many years later, in the 1990s, Henry’s cousin, the son of the relative who was supposed to be Henry’s host in the U.S. in the 1940s came to visit Henry in San Francisco and apologized for his father’s behavior.)
On Henry’s 11th birthday in 1950 he was on an airplane to Lod airport in Israel, where his parents had resettled. When Henry met his parents at the airport he could not remember the German language. He told them to “keep talking” and after one week, he could remember.
Henry went to school in Tel Aviv, learned Hebrew, and had friends. His father opened a textile shop and again sold cloth. Henry came to San Francisco in 1960 and found a job at Davis Realty, where he learned to be a real estate agent and later, a licensed Realtor. He was able to open his own business, called Bridge Realty.
In his efforts to restore and renovate Victorian houses, Henry learned all the details of construction. He acquired and renovated some San Francisco houses, renting them, and later preparing them for sale.
Henry has artistically restored six San Francisco houses and four more are in the works.
With an eye towards retirement and his life goal of achieving philanthropy for Israel and Jewish organizations, Henry has been selling his homes.
In the last months of his life he expressed sorrow over the war in Gaza. Henry was reminded of Prime Minister Golda Meir’s words: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
Henry is survived by his brother, Jack, and his wife, Gabrielle.
Barbara Cohen Rosenberg
July 13, 1932–May 4, 2024
Barbara Cohen Rosenberg passed away peacefully on May 4, 2024. She was born on July 13, 1932, in Fall River, MA, at the height of the Great Depression. Her father, Lester Cohen, was a serial entrepreneur who was known to have succeeded and failed several times during his career. Her mother, Anna, was one of nine children. From her parents, Barbara owed her love of family and eternal optimism and positive attitude for which she was famous. Her nickname was “Fun Barb” and while she was a high school teacher in Marin County, her students loved it when she zipped into the school parking lot in her bright red MGB convertible.
After graduating from H.M.S. Durfee High School in Fall River, Barbara attended Brandeis University in Boston where she received a B.A. in English. She followed up with a master’s degree at Harvard University and obtained her teaching credential. Beginning her long career in education, Barbara got a job as an English teacher at White Plains H.S. in New York. It was during her time in New York, where Barbara became reacquainted with Dick Rosenberg, a boy from Fall River. Barbara had attended Dick’s Junior Prom with him at Durfee several years earlier. Dick was a naval officer in the Atlantic Fleet stationed in New York, after serving in Korea and Vietnam. A few years later, in 1956, Barbara and Dick were married and shortly thereafter Dick was assigned duty in San Francisco, which brought the couple to the West Coast. There they would build their careers and family and become a prominent part of the San Francisco community. Ultimately, Dick served as Chairman and CEO of Bank of America. Dick often commented that he owed virtually all of his success to the love, support and friendship he had with Barbara.
Along the way, while raising a family (they had two sons, Michael and Peter), Barbara established her own distinguished career in Education, Philanthropy and Public Service. For several years, Barbara taught English and Literature at Terra Linda H.S. in Marin County. A stickler for the proper use of grammar in the English language, when her sons (and later her grandsons) wrote her a letter, she would often return the letter marked with a red pen correcting any grammatical errors. Once, when dropping off one of her grandsons at summer camp, Barbara noticed there was a separate bus for boys and another for girls. On the bus transporting the boys, there was a banner that read “Boy’s Bus.” Barbara asked the camp counselor for a sharpie marker so that she could mark out the misplaced apostrophe and put it after the “s.” Subsequent to her teaching career, Barbara took on a role in administration in charge of all Curriculum Development at the San Rafael School District. During this time, she earned a Doctorate degree in Education at the University of San Francisco. Thereafter, the license plate on her successive sports cars read DR BARB.
Barbara left a legacy of significant contributions to the community. She was appointed by San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan to the Library Commission at a time of fundamental changes in the City’s public library system. She also served as President of the Bureau of Jewish Education and the President of the Campus for Jewish Living where she and Dick funded the Rosenberg Family Center.
Barbara also served on the boards of the Jewish Community High School, Lehrhaus Judaica and the department of Jewish Studies at Stanford University and was a trustee of Brandeis University. Barbara spearheaded many of the philanthropic endeavors of the Rosenberg family, including the funding of the Rosenberg Institute for Marine Biology and Environmental Science at San Francisco State University, the Rosenberg Institute for Global Finance at Brandeis University and the Jewish Community H.S., among others.
Barbara was a world traveler and visited all seven continents. She often traveled with Dick and met many world leaders such as President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Someone once asked her what all these prominent world leaders had in common, she responded, “They were all honored and felt lucky to have met me.”
While Barbara was certainly comfortable interacting with senior corporate, civic and political leaders, she was most happy spending time with her family and friends, particularly her five grandsons Jack, Joe, and Max (Michael) and Jake and Cyrus (Peter).
Barbara is survived by her two sons, Michael and Peter, two daughters-in-law Ellen Rosenberg (Michael) and Lisa Rosenberg (Peter) and her five grandsons.
The family has suggested donations be made in memory of Barbara Rosenberg to the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, 302 Silver Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112, sfcjl.org.
Sinai Memorial | (415) 921-3636