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