Eleven people were killed on the morning of Oct. 27, when a gunman opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue. Here are the names of those who died:
• Joyce Fienberg, 75: There was a long-standing joke at Gaea Leinhardt’s University of Pittsburgh research center: If she needed to remember something – even “small bits of information that I might need someday” – she could simply mention it to her research assistant, Joyce Fienberg. Without fail, Fienberg would be able to recall it, even years later.
“She was just a magnificently caring, generous and thoughtful human being,” Leinhardt said. “She never forgot anyone’s birthday. She was always available for whatever one might need.”
Despite Fienberg’s title, Leinhardt said their working relationship was much more collegial, like a partnership, and that she considered Fienberg her best friend. They met in 1968 and worked together for at least 25 years – meeting almost daily in adjacent offices – researching how children and teachers learn. Whenever Fienberg went to observe a classroom, teachers would immediately feel at ease in her presence.
“She was very intellectual,” Leinhardt said. “But also people would just always open up to her in a very easy way. She was an ideal observer.”
Through the years, Leinhardt said she watched in admiration as Fienberg, originally from Canada, created a warm and rich community for herself in Pittsburgh, raising a family and eventually becoming “the ideal grandmother.” She adored her two sons, Howard and Anthony, and was deeply active in the Tree of Life congregation, especially after the passing of her husband in 2016.
Mel Solomon, a fellow congregant and Squirrel Hill resident, remembers Fienberg standing alongside him years ago at the Jewish Community Center as they sent their sons away to summer camp. In recent years, she could be seen greeting people at the synagogue doors.
“I picture her as someone who was passionate about resuscitating the Tree of Life and bringing it back to a point where it would be sustainable for future generations, membership-wise and financially,” Solomon said. “She was a people person, always smiling and with a extended hand.”
When news of the shooting broke Saturday, Leinhardt was in the United Kingdom. She immediately tried calling and emailing Fienberg, knowing she would have likely been at the morning service.
“I said, ‘Tell me you’re OK. Tell me you’re OK,’ ” Leinhardt said.
When her best friend didn’t respond after several hours, she said she began fearing the worst.
“I just can’t say how terribly sad I am that this person isn’t in the world anymore,” Leinhardt said.
• Richard Gottfried, 65: Like his father and grandfather, Richard Gottfried took his faith seriously, regularly attending Saturday services as a member of the New Light Congregation.
But when Gottfried fell in love in the late 1970s, it was with a practicing Catholic. Peg Durachko was a fellow dental student at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1980, the year he graduated, they married.
Gottfried and Durachko would go on to build a successful dental practice together, opening in 1984. Even if the couple did not share a faith, they seemed to share a sense of purpose, extending their skills and care to the city’s neediest. Both volunteered at Catholic Charities Free Dental Clinic. The pair also counseled soon-to-be married couples at St. Athanasius Parish, a Catholic Church near their home.
The couple had just celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary, and had planned to wind down the practice and retire soon. Gottfried, an avid athlete, had finally recovered from a slip on ice last winter, and was looking forward to resuming running. He had participated in the Great Race, whose route winds through Squirrel Hill, 28 times.
The couple had just celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary, and had planned to wind down the practice and retire soon. Gottfried, an avid athlete, had finally recovered from a slip on ice last winter, and was looking forward to resuming running. And he was growing closer to his faith, attending services with greater frequency.
“He died doing what he liked to do most,” said Salvin.
• Rose Mallinger, 97: When Chuck Diamond, a former rabbi at Tree of Life, heard that a gunman had opened fire inside the synagogue, Rose Mallinger was among the first he worried about. The petite 97-year-old he regularly saw walking in the neighborhood or grocery shopping had attended service for decades, almost without fail, and was always among the first to walk in.
“She was a synagogue-goer, and not everybody is. She’s gone to the synagogue for a lifetime, no matter how many people are there,” Diamond said.
Diamond, 63, has known Mallinger for years. He said he and Mallinger’s son went through kindergarten and high school together.
“I feel a part of me died in that building,” he said.
When Diamond was rabbi, he had a nickname for Mallinger and another congregant whose name also starts with an “R.”
“I used to call Ray and Rose my RR,” he said. “I think of them, and a smile comes to my face.”
Lynette Lederman, a former president of Tree of Life, said Mallinger’s daughter has been taking her to the synagogue every week. The daughter was shot in the arm, Lederman and Diamond said.
Years ago, Mallinger used to come to the synagogue with her sister, Sylvia, who later died. The sisters were usually the ones preparing breakfast for the congregants, Lederman said.
• Jerry Rabinowitz, 66: Jerry Rabinowitz and his wife, Mari, did not have children, so they poured out all of their love and attention on their community, their synagogue and their five cats, said Anna Boswell-Levy, a friend of the couple and a rabbi at a synagogue in Yardley, Pa.
“Jerry and Mari just did everything for this synagogue. They were essential, they were core, to this community,” Boswell-Levy said. “They were kind of like the welcoming committee.”
Jerry, in particular, was always helping to set up services and lead them. He led Torah studies and organized meetings, Boswell-Levy said. Jerry and his wife were members of the Dor Hadash Congregation, which held services in the same building as Tree of Life.
The couple also often hosted dinners at their home. They loved to cook.
“He’s the most hospitable kind of person that would see to your comfort,” Boswell-Levy said of Jerry. “For example … they would organize a dinner party for me when I would go (visit).”
Boswell-Levy said he and Jerry had been friends for 12 years.
“Jerry was about 25 years older than me. He treated me like we were the same age. He was never paternalistic with me,” he said. Outside his synagogue, Jerry was a doctor, a geriatrician, in Pittsburgh for decades. He loved his patients and his practice. Lately, however, he felt he had been so bogged down with electronic medical records that he had not had enough time to take care of his patients, Boswell-Levy said.
“He had been looking to retire for some years now,” Boswell-Levy said.
• Cecil Rosenthal, 59: When people showed up for services at Tree of Life, it was often Cecil Rosenthal who would greet them, offering a warm hello, a smile and sometimes a joke. Cecil and his brother David were fixtures at the synagogue, attending services nearly every Saturday for much of their lives. They had been going to Tree of Life since they were young boys, said Chuck Diamond, a former rabbi.
The brothers had intellectual disabilities, according to two former synagogue presidents. When the synagogue held special services for adults with disabilities, Cecil and David would serve as the honorary chairs, said Howard Elson, who was president of Tree of Life about 12 years ago.
Elson recalled a joke bit he and Cecil repeated numerous times. Elson would pass Cecil, and Cecil would point at him and would say, “You’re in trouble. I’m telling the rabbi on you.”
“No,” Elson would reply. “You’re in trouble.”
Then, the two men would break down in laughter.
When Diamond was the rabbi, Cecil’s job during services was to carry the Torah.
“He would do so so proudly,” Diamond said.
• David Rosenthal, 54
• Bernice Simon and Sylvan Simon, 84 and 86
• Daniel Stein, 71: When Stephen Halle lost his father, he expected to do the grim work of cleaning out the man’s Florida condo alone and moving his mother’s things up to Pittsburgh alone. But then, his 71-year-old uncle, Daniel Stein, offered to join him. For days, the two men worked side by side to pack up the condo. It was emblematic, Halle said, of Stein’s generosity and kindness.
Halle said Stein, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh, was retired but had held a number of jobs, including as a salesman, at grocery stores and as a substitute teacher.
Stein was a member of the New Light Congregation, which held services in the same building as Tree of Life. He was heavily involved with the synagogue, having been president and on the board of directors. Most recently, he was president of the Men’s Club, said Halle.
Stein’s son Joe posted a photo of his father on Facebook on Sunday. It showed him sitting down in a white shirt and tie — he had just come from services — holding his grandson Henry.
“My dad was a simple man and did not require much,” said Joe Stein, in accompanying text. “In the picture below he was having a great day doing two things he loved very much. He had just finished coming from synagogue, which he loved, and then got to play with his grandson which he loved even more!”
• Melvin Wax, 88
• Irving Younger, 69: When the gunman walked inside the Tree of Life, Irving would have been in the hallway, just coming in. Or he would have been sitting in the back, giving prayer books to people as they arrived, said Chuck Diamond, a former rabbi at the synagogue.
Diamond, 63, said he was close friends with Younger. They loved to exchange jokes, mostly jokes about Jews making fun of themselves. They shared a love of sports and politics. They talked about the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they aired their different views on politics.
They also taught classes on current events at the local community center.
Diamond said he saw Younger in one of those classes just last week. He shared pictures of his newborn grandchild with Diamond.
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