G

ilbert Gottfried, the 
comic with a grating 
persona, has died.
His family announced 
Gottfried’s passing “after a 
long illness” on April 12, 2022, 
on Twitter. He was 67. Various 
outlets reported he suffered 
from a heart condition related 
to myotonic dystrophy.
A 2017 documentary 
revealed that contra his foul-
mouthed routine, Gottfried 
was a sweet and loving Jewish 
dad.
Gottfried was reluctant to 
let that truth get out. “I was 
too much of a wimp to say 
no” to the filmmaker, Neil 
Berkeley, he said.
Gottfried, who affected a 
high nasal voice for his comic 
appearances, was a boundary 
crosser, and it got him into 
trouble at times. In 1991, Fox 
apologized after Gilbert, host-
ing the Emmy awards, kept 
joking about fellow comic Pee-
wee Herman’s recent arrest 
for masturbating in an adult 
movie theater.
That dampened Gottfried’s 
career — for a while. He con-
tinued to score gigs in movies, 
on talk radio (frequently with 
Howard Stern), on sketch 
shows and sitcoms, and as a 
voice on cartoons. He was the 
funny animal sidekick, Iago 
the parrot, in Disney’s Aladdin.
Then he famously told per-
haps the first joke about the 
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, just a 
few days after terrorists piloted 
airplanes into the World Trade 
Center and the Pentagon. 
“I’ve always said tragedy 
and comedy are roommates,
” 
Gottfried told Vulture in 2019. 
“Wherever tragedy’s around, 
comedy’s a few feet behind 
them sticking his tongue out 
and making obscene gestures.
”
Aflac, the insurer whose 

trademark duck Gottfried 
voiced and which was his most 
lucrative gig, dropped him in 
2011 after he made jokes on 
Twitter about the tsunami in 
Japan. “I don’t regret the joke,
” 
he told JTA. “I regret losing 
the money.
”
Gottfried credited his wife 
for turning him around from 
a notoriously parsimonious 
bachelor into an attentive dad 
who walked his two kids to 
Hebrew school. He met Dara 
Kravitz, a music executive, in 
the late 1990s at a Grammys 
party he was attending because 
of the free food. She dropped 
food on the table, and he 
picked it up and put it on his 
plate.
Gottfried grew up in secular 
Jewish home in Brooklyn — 
he told JTA his Jewish knowl-
edge was limited to “I know 
that if we’re ever rounded up 
again, I’ll be on the train.
” 
When he and Dara married 
in 2007, she insisted on a 
wedding under a chuppah and 
raising their children with a 
Jewish education.
His family, in their message, 
appealed to the public to keep 
Gottfried’s love for humor in 
mind. “
Although today is a sad 
day for all of us, please keep 
laughing as loud as possible in 
Gilbert’s honor,
” the message 
said. 

Gilbert Gottfried 
Dies at 67

RON KAMPEAS JTA.ORG

APRIL 21 • 2022 | 69

Shatzman; great-grandchildren, 
Emerson, Lulu; loving caregivers, 
Latrice and Gloria; other relatives 
and friends. In memory of her 
dog, the late Chichi. 
Iris was the beloved wife of the 
late Leo Rosen; cherished daugh-
ter of the late Kay and the late 
Louis Topor; dear sister of the late 
Susan Topor.
Contributions may be made 
to JARC, 6735 Telegraph Road, 
Suite 100, Bloomfield Hills, MI 
48301; or to a charity of one’s 
choice. A funeral service was 
held at Hebrew Memorial Park. 
Interment took place at Hebrew 
Memorial Park. Arrangements by 
Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

CARL STEGER, 96, 
formerly of Detroit of 
Sarasota, Fla., passed 
away March 31, 2022.
He was a longtime 
entertainment fixture 
in the Detroit area for decades, 
and one of his biggest fans was 
the late Danny Raskin. Danny 
wrote of Carl many times in his 
“Best of Everything” columns. 
Once, he observed, “Carl Steger 
thrives on the 88 ivories and it 
seems to put renewed vigor in 
him as time goes by.
” Mr. Steger 
was best noted for his style of 
interweaving familiar names and 
places in his songs.
He is survived by his beloved 
wife, Carol; children, Dawn (Ron) 
Davey, Todd Steger, Scott (Jorge 
Bardowell) Steger, Kim (Wayne) 
Sherrill, Tim (Mimi) Steger and 
Ann (Tom) Goshorn; 11 grand-
children; five great-grandchildren.

HAROLD SUCHER, 
formerly of Detroit, 
passed away peace-
fully on April 11, 
2022, at the age of 96. 
He was born on 
Feb. 22, 1926, in Detroit to Feige 
and Benjamin Sucher. Harold 
served in the U.S. Army from 
1944-46 and participated in the 
occupation of Japan. He and his 
wife, Janet, the mother of his chil-

dren married on July 11, 1945. 
Harold built a successful gas 
station and trailer rental business 
in Detroit, beginning in 1947, 
moved the family to Farmington 
in 1956 and retired in 1988 at age 
62; he then enjoyed 34 years of 
adventurous retirement.
Harold was an avid world 
traveler, having visited all seven 
continents. He enjoyed mountain 
climbing and hiking, including 
climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro at age 
60. He loved music, particularly 
Frank Sinatra and the song “My 
Way,
” which describes how he 
led his life. He was an avid jog-
ger (well into his 80s) and loved 
horseback riding. During his 
many trips to Las Vegas, the high-
light was attending a New Year’s 
Eve Barbra Streisand concert (her 
return to the stage after 22 years, 
in 1994). 
Mr. Sucher is survived by his 
three children, Michel (Susanne) 
Sucher, Barbara (Yitzhak) Ben-Zvi 
and Benjamin (Eugenia) Sucher. 
He is also survived by his three 
grandchildren, Erin (Danny) 
Merritt, Britton (Jesse Newmark) 
Schwartz and Sara Lewin; four 
great-grandchildren, Jalen, 
Sonora, Reina and Olivia; and his 
loving and devoted companion 
and friend, Adelle Abrahams. 
He was predeceased by his 
parents; his sister, Edith; wife, 
Janet; and his second wife, Phyllis; 
numerous uncles, aunts and first 
cousins. Harold was the oldest 
ever living Sucher and he truly 
had “nine lives,
” cheating death in 
a plane crash, in a car crash, from 
prostate cancer and multiple other 
close calls.
The family wishes to give 
a special thanks to Valentine 
Gradinariu and the staff at Simply 
Together, who provided such lov-
ing care to their father during the 
last two years of his life. Thanks 
also extend to American Premier 
Hospice, Dr. Jorge Chavez and his 
professional staff for the comfort 
and compassion they provided.

Gilbert Gottfried at SiriusXM 
Studios in New York City, 
Feb. 3, 2020. 

SLAVEN VLASIC/GETTY IMAGES FOR SIRIUSXM

