Gedalia Arditti, 87, was born March 29, 1928, in Salonika (Thessaloniki), Greece, the second of four children of Abraham Arditti and Sara Bar-Zion. His father was a cantor in one of Salonika’s largest Sephardic synagogues. In April 1943, the Nazis transported the entire family — including siblings Tamar, Gracia and Leon — on boxcars to Auschwitz from the ghettos where Salonika’s estimated 54,000 Jews had been relocated after the 1941 German occupation. Saved only by his age, 15, he was tattooed with No. 115860 on his left forearm and put to work. He survived the death march from Auschwitz as Soviet forces approached near the war’s end.
Relocated to the Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz, Austria, he was part of the slave labor used to produce Messerschmitt aircraft. He was liberated by the United States Army in May 1945.
The sole survivor of his immediate family and one of the few remaining Greek Jews, he was smuggled into British-ruled Palestine, where he had relatives. He joined the Palmach commandos and then Israel’s navy, where he oversaw security at two bases during the 1947-1949 War of Independence. He lived on kibbutzim and played semiprofessional soccer. Gedalia was living in a disused elevator shaft on an apartment building rooftop overlooking Haifa’s port, where he worked, when he met Arline Epstein, a tourist from Brooklyn, in 1959. They soon married in Israel and settled in Brooklyn, where he became a United States citizen in 1963. With a young daughter and son, they moved to Miami Beach and later to California, choosing La Jolla for its schools before settling in the Los Angeles area in 1977. He lived or worked in Santa Monica, Brentwood, Hollywood and Pico-Robertson. Trained in carpentry and cabinetmaking after World War II, “Dr. G” spent many years as a building maintenance engineer and had his own small businesses at times. He was fluent in Ladino, Greek, Hebrew and English, and could speak several other languages. He was proud of his Sephardic heritage and loved music, singing and dancing. An accomplished harmonica player, he could, like a real-life Pied Piper, command the attention of any crowd with his music and charm. He died Nov. 13, 2015. After services led by Rabbi Naomi Levy, he was buried in Hillside Memorial Park with Arline, who died in 1998. He is survived by daughter Sara; son Avi; and three grandchildren, Justin, Ryan and Adrienne.
Gedalia Arditti was featured in a 2005 Jewish Journal article about a memorial service for Simon Wiesenthal where, in an impromptu final moment, he began singing Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah.”
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Lore Boasberg died Oct. 14 at 89. Survived by daughter Judy (Mark Landry); sons Mark (Enid), Daniel (Linnie Radman); 4 grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman
Constance Gale died Oct. 13 at 82. Survived by son Jeff Berger; daughter Robin (Paul) Bantz; 2 grandchildren; brother Bill (Paula) Linsman. Hillside
Rosaline Gershuny died Oct. 11 at 93. Survived by sons Howard, Lee (Nancy Winstein); brothers Milton, Reginald Matsil. Hillside
Zachary Lee Glickman died Oct. 12 at 70. Survived by wife Alice; son Benjamin; daughter Ami; 1 grandchild; brother Barry. Mount Sinai
Robin Zipora Oblath died Oct. 9 at 87. Survived by daughters Lisa Hertz, Danice Hertz (Julian Bay); 3 granddaughters; brothers Shimon Brand, Abraham; 3 granddaughters. Hillside
Marla Sue Osband died Oct. 12 at 70. Survived by husband Ronald; son Scott (Amy); daughter Lynn (Steven Dick); 5 grandchildren; brother Don (Carolyn) Haselkorn; sister Joyce Strassberg; nieces and nephews. Groman Eden
Betty Soskins died Oct. 13 at 97. Survived by sons Jerry, Steven (Patti); 3 grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman
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