\”Do you need a ride home?\” he asked me. Those were the last words he spoke to me. I can still feel the grip of his handshake, and his voice still rattles around in my head.
Fred Kort, Holocaust survivor, philanthropist and founder/CEO of Imperial Toy Corporation, died on Sept. 6 at the age of 80.\n\nKort, like fellow philanthropists Jona Goldrich and Max Webb, survived the Holocaust to become one of Jewish Los Angeles\’ most prominent and impassioned supporters, as well as a big giver to secular humanitarian organizations. Kort gave millions to dozens of Jewish causes, including Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University, the Anti-Defamation League and Israel Bonds. He was a founding donor of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and contributed to Goldrich\’s L.A. Holocaust Memorial.
The author of \”The Cross and the Pear Tree: A Sephardic Journey,\” a nonfiction work largely about that curse, died in Santa Cruz on June 14. He was 69.
\”This was a really opinionated, obstinate guy,\” said Frank Maas, secretary of The Jewish Federation. \”And yet, he was the most generous man when he saw a person in trouble.\”
Stanley Hirsh shared a vision of a newspaper that could serve as a kind of hub for an increasingly diverse and far-flung community.
Herb Brin, one of the most colorful writers and editors in the annals of Los Angeles Jewish journalism, died of congestive heart failure\non Feb. 6 at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda.
Leon Hirsh Guide, conductor, music educator and musician, died in early October. He was 81.
Guide was born Feb. 3, 1921, in Turkey to Clara and Joseph Guide, who had left Russia during the civil war. The family moved to Chicago when Guide was 2.
Samuel Neaman, philanthropist and former department store chain retailing manager, died in Oceanside on Nov. 13. He was 89.
Stan Burns, an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer, died of heart failure Nov. 5 at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital. He was 79.
Harvey Silbert, philanthropist and attorney, died Sept. 28. He was 90.
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