Obituaries

Obituaries from page C41

RONALD NORTON WARONOFF, 76, for-
mer Detroiter of Columbia, Md., died April
21, 2008, after a courageous battle with
kidney cancer.
He was a graduate of Lawrence
Technological University and enjoyed a long
career as a retail store designer with both
Hughes and Hatcher and Jos. A. Bank Inc. He
was a statistical engineer in the United States
Air Force and was stationed in Japan during
the Korean War.
Mr. Waronoff is survived by his devoted
and loving wife, Marlene Ruth Waronoff
daughters, Lisa Barnett (William) and
Laurie Freeman (Robert) of Farmington
Hills, Sandra Freedman of West Bloomfield,
Gayle Fogel Shaffer (Jeff) of Clarksburg,
Md., Heidi Knight (Richard) of Columbia,
Md.; brothers, Marvin Waronoff of Palm
Beach Gardens, Fla., and Henry Waronoff of
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; grandchildren, Shana
Rose Freedman, Mitchell and Jason Barnett,
Victoria and Olivia Knight and Amanda
Freeman.
Interment at Columbia Memorial Park in
Columbia, Md. Contributions may be made
to the American Cancer Society, the Hospice
of Baltimore, Gilchrist Center or a charity of
one's choice.

Commander Of The Ship Exodus

Tel Aviv/JTA — On April 28, a white-
haired former shipmate propped a gold-
fringed, pale blue flag of the legendary
Exodus ship next to the coffin of its
commander, Yossi Harel.
A short distance away sparkled the
azure Mediterranean Sea, whose waters
Harel sailed four times on clandestine
journeys between 1945 and 1948, bring-
ing 24,000 Holocaust survivors to the
shores of what would soon become the
State of Israel.
Harel, 90, died April 24 of cardiac
arrest. When he secretly set sail from
France on the Exodus, a rickety former
Chesapeake Bay steamer originally
called President Warwick with 4,553
Jewish refugees on board, Harel could
not have known that the voyage would
become the stuff of legend.
The boat left France on July 11, 1947,
and headed toward Palestine until it was
intercepted by British navy vessels. The
British commanders ordered that the
refugees should be sent back to Europe.
But the defiant Harel, then 28, and

his skipper planned a daring escape
from their British. They shut off all the
ship's lights in the dead of night and
swiftly changed its course, heading for
Palestine.
The ruse was up when the British
intercepted the Exodus. Passengers tried
to repel the British by hurling potatoes
and canned goods at them. A British
soldier and three Jews were killed before
Harel ordered his passengers to sur-
render.
The refugees were then taken to Haifa
and put on ships headed back to Europe.
Among those who witnessed the dra-
matic scene were members of the United
Nations Special Committee on Palestine.
The officials later said that seeing up
close the unfortunate journey of those
refugees spurred them to push for a
resolution of the question of Palestine
and the Jews who wanted to make it
their home.
For its role in galvanizing world opin-
ion in favor of a Jewish state, the Exodus
became known as the ship that helped

launch the Jewish state.
The dimensions of its story, were
mythologized in 1958 in Leon Uris' novel
Exodus, which also become a hit film.
The movie's star, based loosely on Harel,
was Paul Newman. For both Jews and
non-Jews, the book and film painted a
romantic, heroic picture of the Zionist
cause — doing wonders for the young
state's image.
Years later, in the Soviet Union, illegal
copies of the book were circulated, turn-
ing young Jews into avid Zionists.
Harel later served in the Israeli
army's intelligence corps. He afterward
went into business and reportedly also
worked for the Mossad.
During a visit to Los Angeles in 1948
he met Julie, an American woman who
would become his wife.
"I saw a man in uniform facing me,
impressive and handsome, and I fell in
love with him immediately:' Julie Harel
was quoted by Israel's daily Maariv.
"His life she said, "was interwoven
with the history of the State of Israel."

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May 1.2008