Nathan Judah Krotinger died March 25 from natural causes at age 97.
Born on Sept. 6, 1922, in Hempstead, N.Y., he was a veteran of World War II and served in the Israeli army Machal Overseas Volunteers.
Krotinger graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from New York University in 1941 at the age of 19. He worked in explosives testing laboratories in Birmingham, Ala., and Rolla, Mo., during the first part of World War II and later was drafted, arriving in the Philippines after the termination of hostilities.
Krotinger later became active in Zionist organizations in New York and Pittsburgh, where he met his future wife, Sheila Lutsky, during an Israeli folk dancing event. In May 1948, as the independent State of Israel was declared, Krotinger became one of 4,000 overseas volunteers who joined Israeli forces during the Arab-Israeli War. En route to the Middle East on the USS Marine Carp, when the ship reached Beirut, “400 Lebanese soldiers were waiting for passengers at the port,” historian Amit Naor wrote. “The Lebanese authorities did not want to allow Jewish men of military age to continue on to Israel.” As documented in an article by Naor, Krotinger and 68 volunteers were taken by truck to the city of Baalbek, where they were imprisoned in an abandoned French military camp.
After diplomatic negotiations, the volunteers were released after six weeks to go back to New York but Krotinger debarked in Italy and headed for the fledgling State of Israel, where he helped to establish munitions factories that were vital to the country’s defense.
Sheila Lutsky then joined Krotinger in Israel and they were married in Tel Aviv on March 7, 1949. As pioneers living in the new state, they helped to establish the Moshav HaBonim farming settlement near Haifa that served as a model for others and continues to thrive.
In 1951, the Krotingers moved back to the United States. They lived in Whittier and La Mirada and were founding members of both Temple Beth Shalom in Whittier and Temple Beth Ohr in La Mirada. Krotinger was employed by the Bureau of Standards of the city of Los Angeles for 35 years until his retirement. He also patented a chemical sanitizer for camper and trailer toilet holding tanks called KN-48 and was the president of Zevel Corp., which manufactured the product. He and his wife also were also active in the helping to preserve the historical Neff House in La Mirada. His wife, Sheila, died in 2006.
Krotinger is survived by daughters Michelle Wolf, an occasional columnist for the Journal, and Eve Panush; their husbands; and grandchildren Michael, Jenny, Rachel and Daniel.
