October 26, 1924 – January 7, 2015 Richard “Dick” Giesberg passed away peacefully at home on January 7, 2015, surrounded by his family after a lifetime of civil rights and social action work which touched the lives of thousands.
Born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Henriette and Adolph Giesberg, Dick served with the 1258th Army Engineering Battalion during WWII at the Battle of the Bulge, helped to liberate the Dachau concentration camp, and worked at the Palace of Justice at Nuremburg during the war crimes trials. Dick graduated from the University of Maine, where he met Mildred (“Middie”) Cohen (d. September 16, 2012), his beloved wife of 64 years.
A true partnership, they shared love, life, and causes. After moving to Los Angeles, Dick entered retail men's clothing, expanding Barr Company to include the men's concessions at the FEDCO department stores.
For more than 50 years he and Middie pursued interfaith community activism transcending racial, cultural, and socio-economic barriers. His deep understanding of what it means to be a Jew combined with his sensitivity to suffering has guided all of his involvements. Together they were founding members and active participants in Leo Baeck Temple. He was the first president and founder of the Westside Fair Housing Council, President of the Community Relations Conference of Southern Califormia, on the Executive Board of the Urban League, Vice Chairman of the CRC Jewish Federation Council and the LA Chapter of the American Jewish Committee and active in the Black-Jewish Coalition, Latino-Jewish Coalition and Korean-Jewish Dialogue, and other organizations. Together with Middie, his most passionate work was with Soviet Jewry and Ethiopian Jewry. Dick and Middie were pivotal in the founding and continuing success of the the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry. Dick also focused on addressing the needs of the frail elderly as a long time Board Member of OPICA. Through his commitment to Tikkun Olam, “repairing the world”, he has enriched the lives of those he loved and bettered the lives of countless others.
His greatest joy and love was for his family and friends. He will long be remembered and sorely missed. He is survived by his daughter Susan (David Lappen) and grandsons Joshua and Michael Lappen and his son Daniel (Carol Lifland) and grandchildren Edith Castillo, and Sasha, Zoe and Matthew Giesberg, and great-grandchildren Adrian and Nicholas Ceren. His older son, Jonathan, passed away in 1990. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Jonathan Giesberg Memorial Fund at NACOEJ, to Leo Baeck Temple, or to OPICA .
