DECEMBER 23 • 2021 | 53

Rhonda Verona; grandchildren, 
Bradley Verona, Brandon 
Verona and Jessica Verona; 
sister-in-law, Paula Polan; 
several adored nieces, nephews 
and wonderful, lifelong friends. 
Mr. Verona was the dear 
brother-in-law of the late John 
Polan; the devoted son of the 
late Florence and the late Abe 
Verona; the loving son-in-law 
of the late Ruth Trivax Waxer; 
the cherished brother of the 
late Eleanor and the late Dr. 
Louis Heyman. 
Interment was at Clover Hill 
Park Cemetery. Contributions 
may be made to Run4Papa, 
secure.ard.northwestern.
edu (all options will support 
Alzheimer’s and other 
related dementia research for 
Run4Papa). If you would prefer 
to send a check, please mail 
to: Northwestern University 
Feinberg School of Medicine, 
Attn: Jordan Sund, 420 E. 
Superior St., Rubloff Building, 
9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611, 
Memo: Run4Papa-Coleman 
Verona; or send to a charity of 
your choice. Arrangements by 
Ira Kaufman Chapel.

Contact Raymond Jenkins
33700 Woodward Ave. • Between 14 Mile & Adams • Birmingham, MI

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own.

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Transformers Toys Inventor, Holocaust Survivor 
and Poker Star Henry Orenstein Dies at 98

SHIRA HANAU JTA

Henry Orenstein, a 
Holocaust survivor who 
went on to invent the 
Transformers toys and 
became a major donor to 
Jewish and Israeli causes, 
died Dec. 14, 2021, at the 
age of 98.
Orenstein became a best-
selling toy maker with his 
Transformers line, which 
he first created in the 
early 1980s. He followed 
up on that success with 
numerous other inventions 
and over 100 patents before 
eventually becoming a star 
poker player and being 
inducted into the Poker Hall 
of Fame in 2008.
Born in Poland to a 
Jewish family in 1923, 
Orenstein managed to 
survive the war due to a 
gamble he made in 1944, the 
first of several that would 
shape his life.
While imprisoned at 
Budzyn, a German labor 
camp in Poland, in 1944, 
the Nazis running the 
camp ordered all scientists 
and mathematicians to 
register with the camp 
administration. Despite not 

knowing if the scientists 
and mathematicians would 
be given better conditions 
or killed immediately, 
and despite the fact that 
Orenstein himself was 
neither a scientist nor a 
mathematician, he signed 
himself up along with his 
brothers who were interned 
there with him.
That decision may have 
been the difference between 
life and death.
The Nazis were organizing 
a special unit of prisoners 
to develop a weapon to help 
the Nazis win the war, and 
the prisoners assigned to the 
unit were spared execution. 
Luckily for Orenstein, 

who was only 16 when the 
war broke out, the math 
problems he was required 
to solve were simple and he, 
along with two of the three 
brothers with him, survived 
the war. His parents, a sister 
and one brother were killed.
Orenstein was a longtime 
donor to Jewish causes, 
including the Metropolitan 
Council on Jewish Poverty 
in New York and the 
Orenstein Project, an Israeli 
nonprofit he founded in 
2017 that focused on food 
insecurity with special 
attention to Holocaust 
survivors.
Orenstein is survived by 
his wife, Susie Orenstein. 

STEPHEN LOVEKIN/FILMMAGIC/GETTY IMAGES

Henry Orenstein, second from left, at the launch of the Poker 
Superstars Invitational Tournament in 2004. 

