The founder of the Friendship Circle who referred to himself as being “forever 49” has died.
Jacob “Jack” Ploscowe, who steered the singles group catering toward the newly single or those having trouble readjusting, died on Saturday, Aug. 28. He was 89.
Ploscowe was born on Nov. 15, 1914, in Brooklyn, N.Y. His parents were immigrants from Minsk, Russia. They arrived with three children and had four more in the United States, with Ploscowe being the youngest.
Ploscowe attended City College of New York for his bachelor’s degree and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, for his master’s degree in social work.
During World War II, Ploscowe worked for the Red Cross, seeing distressed soldiers and parents of soldiers who had been killed.
“Then they called it shellshock,” said his daughter, Amira El-Cherbini, of Portland, Ore. “They were only just starting to understand post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Once in San Francisco, he decided to stay. “He saw it out here, and wanted to be out here,” said El-Cherbini.
In 1944, he married Loyal Fried.
Ploscowe was an active member of the Sierra Club, and loved to ski. He taught his three children to ski when they were young, but they all surpassed him, as he would often tumble down the slopes himself.
The Ploscowes were active with Congregation Judea. When his wife died in 1967, Ploscowe turned his attention to the plight of others like himself. He decided to start a group specifically for those either divorced or widowed who were having trouble readjusting to being single. The Friendship Circle was born in 1980.
Ploscowe also founded the Mid-Peninsula Jewish Singles 35+, which later turned into 49+.
“The group provided an opportunity for the divorced and widowed to find themselves again,” Ploscowe told the Jewish Bulletin in 2000, when he disbanded the group. “It also gave them a bridge to a normal social life, serving a useful purpose for growth and development.”
Ploscowe said the Friendship Circle resulted in about 28 marriages and numerous other partnerships.
He also liked to be a part of his grandchildren’s life, and once even went into a granddaughter’s classroom to explain the meaning of Chanukah, complete with a dreidel-spinning demonstration.
In addition to his daughter El-Cherbini, Ploscowe is survived by his partner, Myra Read of San Francisco; son Joel Ploscowe of San Francisco; another daughter, Judy Rinsler of Gila, N.M.; and seven grandchildren.
Donations can be made to the Sierra Club, 2530 San Pablo Ave., Suite I, Berkeley, CA 94702.