obituaries

A Man Of Love

I

Esther Allweiss Ingber
Contributing Writer

A

t the Auschwitz death camp in
Poland, George Vine promised
his father he would live to bear
witness to the horrors inflicted by the Nazis.
And George fulfilled his promise —
surviving the Holocaust, building a strong
family and business in Detroit, and retelling
the story of the persecution and slaughter
of his family and other people to countless
visitors at the Holocaust Memorial Center in
Farmington Hills (HMC).
When son Allen Vine brought George to
the HMC a few months ago to speak for the
last time to visiting schoolchildren, he said
George shared his story — lacing it with a
message of tolerance and hope.
As these students listened intently, tear-
fully, his very last words he said to them
were: 'The answer is love:"
Community leader and businessman
George Vine, 87, of West Bloomfield, died
Sept. 27, 2014, more than a week after suf-
fering a stroke. Rabbi Steven Rubenstein
of Congregation Beth Ahm in West
Bloomfield, the family's home synagogue,
officiated at the funeral service, while Beth
Ahm member Ronn Nadis performed the
cantorial duties. Friend Beth Greenapple
sang two songs in tribute.
Eulogies recalled a friendly, good-natured
man who cared deeply about people and
supporting worthy causes.
Born on June 3, 1927, Gedalia Vino (the
family's original name) was 12 when they
were taken to a ghetto from their home
in Ciechanow, Poland. He became a bar

Yeshiva

BETH YEHUDAH
min> ny'a navy ,

During the coming week, the students of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
will study in memory of the following departed friends.
In addition, Kaddish will be said during the daily minyan.

11 Tishrei Oct. 5, 2014

Abraham Aronow
Albert Berry
David Harold Cooperman
Irene Deutsch
Irving Disner
Simon Goldman
Martha Herbst
Joseph Klein
Solomon Nucian
Ella Rosenberg
Lillian Saltsman
Ruth Ann Shapiro
Joseph Weisblatt
Ben Weitzman

12 Tishrei Oct. 6, 2014

Sarah Golda Beshkin
Jack Dorf
Chana Fishman
Samuel Greenspan
Rose Krosnick
Sol Lefton
Malka Moss
Lena Sitrin
Irving Tessler
William Winer
Bessie Yassky

mitzvah there in 1940, then went by cattle
car to Auschwitz two years later. American
military forces in 1945 liberated him from
Dachau, a concentration camp in Germany.
George's parents and four brothers were
slain in the Holocaust.
George immigrated in 1947 to New York,
where he first
– 4419W
.
4r11
worked making
4114
clothes in so-called
"sweatshops."
Arriving in Detroit,
he became a sales-
man in the garment
industry.
In 1956, George
and partner
Herman Weitzman George Vine
started a wholesale
women's apparel
business out of Herman's basement. They
moved briefly to Linwood Avenue, then
to Fenkell near Livernois for 15 years and,
in 1973, to an industrial area near Square
Lake Road and Telegraph in the Bloomfield
Township area.
After Herman's retirement and death,
George reestablished the wholesale busi-
ness in 1988. At George Vine Associates, he
worked alongside his son Allen and Bruce
Gaston, son of a close family friend.
Allen and his brother and sister, Michael
and Sandy, are children from George's first
marriage to the late Barbara Vine. The
couple were married at Congregation B'nai
David on 12th Street in Detroit and lived in
Oak Park and West Bloomfield.
George's wife of the past 24 years, Judy,
was originally a cousin by marriage. Her

13 Tishrei Oct. 7, 2014

Morris Averbuch
Morris Brickner
Bella Chessler
Nochum Cohen
Celia Eizen
Alice Helfgott
Schmul Grun Hollender
Jennie Kramer
Sarah Langwald
Sarah Levine
Pearl Pauline Nusbaum
Ruth Rose
Sylvia Unger
A. Marvin Westerman

14 Tishrei Oct. 8, 2014

Harry Alpiner
Seymour Gorman
Louis Radine
Manuel Rosenthal
Jennie Wasserman

15 Tishrei Oct. 9, 2014

Abraham Applebaum
Shirley Gallison
Chana Gershman
Barnett Gittleman
Gertrude Hyams

Maureen Bernice Kleiman
Helen Klein
Julius Lefton
Laela Miriam Saulson
Esther Silverman

16 Tishrei Oct. 10, 2014

Elizabeth Brown
Julius Corman
David M. Edelman
Harold Kaplan
Allen Krakow
Harry Levine
Celia Margolis
Phillip Rossen
Morris Silverstein
Esther Rose Smith

17 Tishrei Oct. 11, 2014

Leon N Cutler
Joseph Hess
Sadie Kaufman
Minnie Kideckel
Dora Strom Rothenhaus
Simon Shlom
William Solomon
Rose Weingarden

former husband was Barbara's first cousin.
Widower George's friendship with the
divorced Judy "blossomed into a romance,"
she said.
"Our kids are cousins and siblings in the
same breath," said Judy, a mother of two.
David Share said he was 13 when he and
his sister Betsy "were wel-
comed into the family with
open arms:'
Calling George "the
sweetest man ever," David
said George taught him
about "hard work, dedica-
tion, sympathy, forgive-
ness, the importance of
friends and family, and
most of all: love."

Aiding The Community

Judy said her husband "had a hard begin-
ning, but made so much out of his life in the
United States."
George Vine's name pops up frequently in
the Detroit Jewish News Foundation digital
archives, an indication of how completely
this Holocaust survivor blended into the
fabric of his adopted Jewish community.
At the 32nd annual B'nai David/Israel
Bonds citywide dinner on June 13, 1993,
nearly $575,000 in new loan dollars was
raised in tribute to dinner honoree George
Vine. He received the Unity Award in rec-
ognition of his support for developing the
State of Israel.
An advertisement in the April 13, 2006,
Jewish News invited readers to a classical
piano concert for Lag b'Omer honoring
George Vine. Proceeds would benefit the
Holocaust Memorial Center and Akiva
Hebrew Day School in Southfield.
Those are just two.
George's outreach included establish-
ing the George Vine Philanthropic Fund
with the United Jewish Charities. He was a
board member of Jewish Senior Life and an
executive board member at Congregation
B'nai David and then Beth Ahm. George
also served on the board of Michigan Jewish
AIDS Coalition. Son Michael sparked
George and Judy's interest in gay issues.

"Narrow-mindedness and superficiality
were not in his vocabulary," said Michael
of his father. George "accepted you for who
you are.
"He believed in justice and tolerance, civil
and equal rights, treating people with dig-
nity," Michael said.
"George had a smile for everyone —
everybody was his friend," said Bea Mondry,
whose late husband, Leon, survived the
Auschwitz death camp with George.
George found a second home at the
Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC). He
founded the museum with other members
of the local Holocaust survivors' organiza-
tion, Shaarit Haplaytah. George was a HMC
executive board member and general board
member.
Over the years, George spoke about his
wartime experiences at the HMC and at
numerous other venues, including high
schools, colleges (such as Wayne State
University in Detroit and Bowling Green
State University in Ohio) and to military
personnel at Selfridge Air National Guard
Base in Macomb County.
Every talk made good on his promise
to his father that he would survive and tell
what happened in the Holocaust.
George is survived by his beloved wife,
Judy; children, Michael (Bill Getreuer)
Vine, Sandy Sirlin Vine, Allen Vine, Betsy
(Dr. Howard) Golan and David (Stacia)
Share; grandchildren, Derek Getreuer, Anna
Getreuer, Nicole Baumhaft, Jason Baumhaft,
Samantha Vine, Evan Vine, Micah Golan,
Ari Golan and Jordan Golan. He was the
son-in-law of Charles and Ruth Rader; and
brother-in-law of Ron Share, and Sheldon
(Bonnie) Rader.
He also was the husband of the late
Barbara Vine, and a son of the late Zisel and
the late Moshe Reuven Vino.
Contributions may be made to the
Holocaust Memorial Center, 28123 Orchard
Lake Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48334,
www.holocaustcenter.org ; or Congregation
Beth Ahm, 5075 W. Maple Road, West
Bloomfield, MI 48322, www.cbahm.
org. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial
Chapel. ❑

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