86
Friday, December 21, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
OBITUARIES
The Family
of the Late
JEAN
KORMAN
Acknowledges with
grateful • appreciation the
many kind expressions of
sympathy extended by
relatives and friends dur-
ing the family's recent be-
reavement.
Metropolitan Opera star Jan Peerce dies
P,IftIRES‘
The Family
of the Late
ROSE
KRUMAN
Acknowledges with
grateful appreciation the
many kind expressions of
sympathy extended by
relatives and friends dur-
ing the family's recent be-
reavement.
In Memory Of
LEO
LUBETSKY
1
Dec. 18, 1983
Deeply missed and al-
ways remembered by his
loving family. He is forever
in our hearts.
Gert, Harry,
Michael, Marty
and
Grandchildren
Albert Yendick
and Ruth Vosko
Wish to express their
grateful appreciation for
the numerous kind ex-
pressions of sympathy ex-
tended during their recent
bereavement in the loss of
their mother
ROSE
YENDICK
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Jan Peerce
New York (JTA) — Opera star
Jan Peerce, who worked his way
from the Lower East side of New
York to become the principal
tenor of the New York Metropoli-
tan Opera, died Dec. 15 at age 80.
Born Jacob Pincus Perelmuth
in the Lower East side in 1904,
Ernest Weiss
Ernest Weiss, an invesment
counselor and senior vice
president of Shearson Lehman
American Express, 'died Dec. 15 at
age 57.
A native Detroiter, Mr. Weiss
was a member of Knoliwood
Country Club and Cong. B'nai
Moshe.
He leaves his wife, Ellen; chil-
dren, Dr. Jeffrey Soffa, Larry
Soffa of Canoga Park, Calif., Judy
Weiss Oppenheim, Leonard
Weiss, Helayne Soffa, Fred Weiss
and Karen Weiss; his father,
Eugene Weiss of North Miami
Beach, Fla.; a sister, Mrs. Hyman
(Rose) Weiner; and six grand-
children.
Celia Lefton
Celia Lefton, a member of
Jewish communal organizations,
died Dec. 15 at age 75.
Born in New York, Mrs. Lefton
was a member of Temple Beth El,
Franklin Hills Country Club and
National Council of Jewish
Women.
She leaves a daughter, Mrs.
Norman (Sydney) Stern; a
brother, John H. Meistrich; a sis-
ter, Mrs. Marvin (Mollie) Kanes of
Lauderhill, Fla.; three grandchil-
dren and two great-grand-
children.
Harry Rice
Harry Louis Rice, a retired
agent for Metropolitan Life In-
surance Co., died Dec. 13 at age
84.
Born in Poland, Mr. Rise was a
member of Cong. Shaarey Zedek,
Hannah Schloss Old Timers and
the Metropolitan Retirees.
He leaves two daughters, Mrs.
Morris (Reva) Bornstein of Ann
Arbor and Mrs. Gary (Helen)
Wexler; a sister, Mrs. Louis (Fay)
Bogrow; and four grandchildren.
Peerce made his singing debut in
1932 at Radio City Music Hall,
where he remained for eight
years. He made his debut at the
Metropolitan Opera in 1941 as Al-
fredo in La Traviata, and during
his 27 years there distinguished
himself in French and Italian re-
pertoire.
He made his Broadway debut in
1971 in Fiddler on the Roof. After
retiring, he continued to perform
and sang as a cantor during the
High Holy Days.
Mr. Peerce, while in Austria in
1973, visited a transit station in
Vienna for Soviet Jewish emi-
grants on their way to Israel. He
performed for them the regular
Sabbath service and afterwards
sang the Yiddish tune Raisins
and Almonds for the Soviet Jews.
He sang in synagogues during his
youth and later in synagogues in
Moscow and 'elsewhere in the
Soviet Union while on a tour of
that country.
Prior to singing, Mr. Peerce had
been a violinist. He had made
films, taught, recorded albums
and appeared on TV talk shows.
Mr. Peerce remained at Radio
City for eight years and sang on
many radio broadcasts. An NBC
official brought the young tenor to
the attention.of Arturo Toscanini,
who engaged him for eight per-
formances.
According to the New York
Times, from 1941 to 1968 at the
Met, Mr. Peerce gave 205 per-
Rabbi Kapustin dies
School and was a past member of
the day school's board. He was a
36-year member of Cong. Beth
Tefilo Emanuel Tikvah of which
he was a past president.
Rabbi Kapustin served on the
board of Yeshivath Beth
Yehudah, was a member of Cong.
Gemiluth Chasodim and taught
at the Midrasha-College of Jewish
Studies.
He is survived by his wife,
Nanette; two sons, Daniel D. of
Pewaukee, Wis., and Samuel of
Willowdale, Ont., Canada; • and
five grandchildren.
Fanni Epstein
Ann Arbor community leaders
and University of Michigan ar-
chitectural department staff
members are paying tribute to the
memory of Fanni Epstein who
died Dec. 14.
Mrs. Epstein was formerly
associated with the University of
Michigan architectural services
and in that capacity took a deep
interest in the university's trib-
utes to Raoul Wallenberg, a U-M
architectural graduate.
The widow of Mr. Clifford Eps-
tein, she also took a deep interest
in community and Zionist affairs.
She met her husband in Palestine,
where he spent some months re-
presenting the Detroit News. His
services of articles on Zionism
aroused great interest at that
time, in the mid-1930s.
S. Hertzberg
New York — Sidney Hertzberg,
a writer, editor and political ac-
tivist, died Dec. 14 at age 74.
Mr. Hertzberg was a publicity
adviser in the 1936 Presidential
campaign of Norman Thomas, the
Socialist, and a speech writer in
the 1968 Democratic Presidential
campaign of the late Hubert H.
Humphrey.
He served as a publicity agent
for the America First Committee
and the Liberal Party of New
York and was chief Asia represen-
tative of the United Nations Ap-
peal for Children.
Mrs. Newman
Bessie -Newman, co-founder of
Cadillac Beverage Co., died Dec.
16 at age 93.
Born in Russia; Mrs. Newman
was a member of the board of di-
rectors for the Jewish orphans
home. She was a founding
member of the Jewish Commu-
nity Center.
Mrs. Newman was an officer of
Northville Laboratories and a
member of Order of the Eastern
Star.
She leaves a son, Paul; four
grandchildren and four great-
grandchildren.
formances in 11 operas, plus 119
performances on tour. His last
complete stage performance at
the Met took place on Feb. 21,
1966 in Don Giovanni.
When he was not singing at the
Met, Mr. Peerce gave concerts. He
appeared in European opera
houses and was the first Ameri-
can ever to sing at the Bolshoi
Opera in Moscow since World War
II.
Among the films in which he
appeared were: Carnegie Hall,
Tonight We Sing and Goodbye,
Columbus.
S. Brezner
Rabbi Max Kapustin
•
Rabbi Max Kapustin, director
of the B'nai•B'rith Hillel Founda-
tion at Wayne State University
from 1948 to 1976, died Dec. 18 at
age 74.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany,
Rabbi Kapustin was ordained at
the Hildesheimer Rabbinical
Seminary of Berlin. He received a
doctorate in Semitics from
Heidelberg University. He was an
instructor of Bible and Talmud at
the rabbinical college of
Hoffmann Yeshivah in
Frankfort-am-Main.
He came to the United States in
1938 and held a pulpit in
Dannville, Va., from 1938 to 1948,
when he took the WSU Hillel post.
He retired "in 1976.
Rabbi Kapustin was an adjunct
professor of German and Near
East Studies while at WSU.
In the Jewish community,
Rabbi Kapustin was a member of
the Council of Orthodox Rabbis.
He sat on the executive committee
of the Jewish Community Council
and was affiliated with the De-
troit Rolind Table of the National
Conference of Christians and
Jews.
Rabbi Kapustin was on the
board of education of Hillel Day
Samuel Brezner, an attorney,
died Dec. 12 at age 78.
Born in London, England, Mr.
Brezner lived 74 years in Detroit.
He was graduated from the De-
troit College of Law in 1928. In
1934, he was elected judge of pro-
bate for Wayne County. In 1936,
he was appointed assistant pro-
secuting attorney for Wayne
County and in 1944 was ap-
pointed chief of the civil division
(county corporation counsel).
He served as chief trial lawyer
in the prosecuting attorney's
office, followed by the appoint-
ment to the post of chief appellate
lawyer in that office.
In 1961, Mr. Brezner was ap-.
pointed chief assistant prosecut-
ing attorney serving until
January 1967.
In 1967, he became the legal
counsel to the Wayne County
Sheriff's Department in both civil
and criminal matters. He retired
in 1971. From 1972 until 1978 he
was visiting judge for Detroit Re-
corders Court. He retired in 1978.
He leaves his wife, Peggy; a
daughter, Mrs. Joyce Friedman;
and one granddaughter.
A. Burnstine
Libbie Schlussel, a member of
Jewish organizations, died Dec.
13 at age 88.
Born in Detroit, Mrs. Schlussel
was a member of the Hannah
Schloss Old Timers, Hadassah,
Cong. B'nai Israel of West Bloom-
field and its sisterhood. She did'
volunteer work at Pontiac Gen-
eral Hospital.
She leaves two daughters, Mrs.
Bennie (Pearl) Mirkin and Mrs.
Edward (Beverly) Avadenka; four
grandchildren and three great-
grandchildren.
Alexander E. Burnstine, owner
of the Burnstine Pharmacy in De-
troit, died Dec. 13 at age 92.
Born in Traverse City, Mich.,
Mr. Burnstine was a graduate of
the Detroit School of Pharmacy in
1914, a member of Mosaic Lodge
of the Masons, Detroit Consistory
and Moslem Temple.
He leaves two brothers, Monte
of Arizona and Zangwill; and a
sister, Mrs. Hyman (Cecille)
Levy.
Mrs. Schlussel