MAY 14 • 2020 | 39

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Soul
of blessed memory

RANDY
BALAMUT, 51
formerly of
Southfield, passed
away on April 3,
2020, at his home
in Scottsdale, Ariz.
He leaves behind his wife,
Jenny; three children, Hannah,
Marni and Zane (Daisy); and
a granddaughter, Alexcia.
Randy was the loved son of
Sharon (Dave Moran) Balamut
and the late Michael Balamut.
He is survived by his brothers,
David and Todd; nieces and
nephews, Jacob, Casey, Noah,
Jordan and Shayna; aunts and
uncles, Madeline Rosenfield,
Lois (Nat) Fishman, Nate
(Nancy) Goldberg; and many
loving cousins and friends.

MORRIS
“MORREY”
BEIDER, 97, a
longtime resident
of Oak Park and
Waterford, died
May 6, 2020, in
Traverse City.
He proudly served in the
United States Navy, enlisting
in 1943.
He taught industrial arts
and drivers’
training at
Ferndale High School for 28
years and continued serving
as the golf coach for some
years after his retirement in
1983. As a strong advocate
for teachers and the teaching
profession, he was active for
many years in the Ferndale
and National Education
Associations.
He was the devoted hus-
band and, ultimately, caregiver
of Shirley Harriet Greenspan
Beider, his wife of 72 years.
Mr. Beider is survived by
sons and daughters-in-law,
Andy and Libby Beider, and

Perry and Alida DeCoster
Beider; daughter and son-
in-law, Felica and Dennis
Barnes; grandchildren, Cantor
Marla (Newell) Bentley,
Rachel (David Woolston),
Shoshana (Aaron) Freedman,
Brittany (Brandon) Morgan,
Christopher, Brandon
and Louis Beider, Calvin,
Sakara and William Barnes;
great-grandchildren, Milani,
Hannah, Jared, Matthew,
Ariana, Raejean, Jamal and
Noah; sisters-in-law, Lorraine
Levin and Rosalie Greenspan;
a host of close relatives and
friends.

HAROLD “HAL”
CHERNY, 82, of
West Bloomfield,
died on April 24,
2020. FLORA
“FLO” CHERNY,
79, of West
Bloomfield died
April 27, 2020.
A love story
on another level
involves 55 years
of marriage and being each
other’
s soulmates. Two hearts
beat as one. Within three
days of Harold’
s passing,
Flora, who suffered from
dementia and was completely
unaware of his passing, also
passed away. She could not
live in this world without
him. She knew they had to be
together.
Harold “Hal” Cherny was
born on March 10, 1938, in
Sokolow Podlaski, Poland,
as Hersz Czerniewicz. His
parents were Chaja Hochberg
Czerniewicz and Sigmund
Czerniewicz. When WWII
started, Sigmund was recalled
for active army duty and the
Germans entered the city on
Sept. 8, 1939.

After the men in the
town over age 14 were shot
(including one of Chaja’
s
brothers), Chaja took her
1-year-old son and ran into
the forest to hide. She tried to
bring her mother and sister
(who had twins) along, but
they decided to stay and were
murdered on Sept. 22, 1942,
at Treblinka, when the ghetto
was liquidated. Remembering
what her husband told her
about the Germans, she trav-
eled east to seek refuge in the
Soviet Union. After a month
dodging bombs, the Germans
and trying to avoid starva-
tion, they were captured by
the Soviet army. They were
sent to a series of forced
labor camps in Siberia, where
Chaja worked hard and gave
her rations to her young son.
Their nightmare ended
in May 1945 when Chaja
and Hal were expatriated to
Poland. Finding no family
left in their hometown and
fearing her husband was
dead, they were placed in
Reichenbach, East Germany,
where Chaja obtained work
in a restaurant and was able
to keep an eye on Hal (who
spoke Yiddish and Russian).
Unbeknownst to them,
Sigmund survived the war
and hired a private inves-
tigator, using information
from the International Red
Cross, to smuggle Chaja and
Hal out of East Germany in
1946. A series of displaced
persons camps followed until
the family, along with new
brother, Seymour, born in
West Germany in 1948, were
able to emigrate to the United
States in 1949. At Ellis Island,
the name was changed to
Cherny and the family moved
to Detroit.

The couple are survived by
their daughters, Terri (Mark)
Rotenberg, Marci (Jeff) Graff,
Lauri (Dr. Jeffrey) Schwalb;
grandchildren, Dr. Chad,
Cameron and Chloe Schwalb,
Jared and Olivia Rotenberg,
Ryan, Rachel (Walter) Calle
Guerrero; sisters and broth-
ers-in-law, Sandi (Cherny)
and Dr. Joel Felsenfeld, Fran
(Cherny) and Jeff Israel; sis-
ters-in-law, Barbara Snitz and
Karen Cherny; brother-in-
law, Aaron “Butch” Stern.
They were preceded in
death by brothers/brothers-
in-law, Seymour “Sy” Cherny
and Stan Snitz; sister/sister-
in-law, Roz Stern.
A private graveside service
was held. Contributions may
be made to the Holocaust
Memorial Center, Parkinson’
s
Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation or the
Alzheimer’
s Association.
Arrangements by Ira
Kaufman Chapel.

ROBERT
MITCHELL
CUTLER, 93, of
Southfield, died
May 2, 2020.
Born in New
York City and formerly of
Philadelphia and Novi, Mr.
Cutler was a successful engi-
neer in aerospace and hospi-
tal management engineering.
Mr. Cutler was the beloved
husband of the late Jean
Cutler. He is survived by his
daughters and son-in-law,
Ardith Cutler, and Jodi Lyn
Cutler and Kip Foley; Jean’
s
children, Mark Dubrinsky
and Barbara Maxwell, Susan
and Tim Mcallister, and
Shari and Larry Friedman;
10 grandchildren; one
great-grandchild.

c. 1943