obituaries
Obituaries from page 57
Dear Abby Columnist
Pauline Phillips, 94
NEW YORK (JTA) — Pauline Phillips,
the woman known to the world as the
advice columnist behind Dear Abby, has
died.
Phillips, the
daughter of
Russian Jewish
immigrants, died
Jan. 16, 2013,
at age 94 after
years of battling
Alzheimer's
disease, accord-
Pauline Phillips
ing to news
reports.
Writing under the pseudonym
Abigail van Buren, Phillips' Dear Abby
was syndicated in more than 1,200
newspapers and had 95 million readers
at its height.
Her sister, Eppie Lederer, wrote a
similar column under the name Ann
Landers. Lederer died in 2002.
Born Pauline Esther Friedman in
Iowa, Philips began writing the column
in 1956 when she was 37 years old.
Youngest Person On
Schindler's List Dies
(JTA) — The youngest person saved by
German industrialist Oskar Schindler has
died.
Leon Leyson, whom Schindler called
"Little Leyson," died of lymphoma on Jan.
12, 2013, in Whittier, Calif., at 83, the Los
Angeles Times reported.
Leyson was 13 when he went to work
at Schindler's factory in Krakow, Poland,
where he had to stand on a box to operate
the machinery.
He was a high school educator for nearly
four decades and rarely spoke about his
Holocaust experiences until the 1993
release of the Academy Award-winning
film Schindler's List. Following the interest
generated by the Steven Spielberg movie,
Leyson traveled throughout the United
States telling his story.
Two of Leyson's brothers were killed
in the Holocaust, including one that
Schindler added to his list but who refused
to get off the train to Auschwitz because
his girlfriend was not on the list, accord-
ing to the Times. Schindler placed Leyson's
mother and two other siblings on the list
of 1,100 Jews along with his father, making
it one of the few families that he protected.
Leyson's siblings later immigrated to
Israel.
Leyson criticized the film for emphasiz-
ing Schindler's womanizing and profiteer-
ing as opposed to his decency and com-
passion, the newspaper said.
In 1949, Leyson immigrated to America
and later fought in the Vietnam War. He
taught machine shop and was a guidance
counselor at Huntington Park High School,
retiring in 1997.
He was the father of two and grandfa-
ther of four.
Ron Nachman, Founder And
Longtime Mayor Of Ariel
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Ron Nachman,
mayor of the West Bank city of Ariel for
nearly 30 years, was buried in the city he
founded.
Nachman, Ariel's only mayor, died Jan.
18, 2013, three years after being diagnosed
with bladder cancer, at the age of 70. He
was buried two days later.
In 1978, Nachman helped found what
would one day become a city in the West
Bank by helping pitch two tents on a bar-
ren hilltop.
Nachman, who was elected Ariel's first
mayor in 1985, served as a Knesset mem-
ber for the Likud Party beginning in 1992,
later resigning his seat when a new law
prevented Knesset members from serving
simultaneously on the local level.
He fought for the recognition of the
Ariel College as a full-fledged university,
which became official late last year, though
the new designation is being challenged in
Israel's Supreme Court.
Nachman also oversaw the construction
and opening of a controversial cultural
center in the city.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
eulogized Nachman on Jan. 20 at the start
of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
"I think that everyone who knew Ron,
and many here did, are familiar with his
unique contribution in establishing Ariel,
both in vision and deed. He gave his life to
this vision and he realized it," Netanyahu
said. "Today we part from our dear friend
who managed to build Ariel into a city of
culture, with a university. I regret that he
did not have additional years in which to
enjoy the fruit of his labors:'
Nachman's family helped found the cen-
tral Israeli city of Ness Ziona.
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Obituaries