APRIL 4 • 2024 | 63

JOSEPHINE 
BRISKIN, 96, of 
Haverford, Pa., 
formerly of West 
Bloomfield, died 
March 27, 2024. 
Mrs. Briskin is survived 
by her sons and daughters-
in-law, Robert and Laurie 
Briskin, Gary and Nancy 
Briskin, and Kenneth and 
Jill Briskin; grandchildren, 
Perrie, Jamie, Lauren, Dana, 
Greg, Noah and Andrew; 
great-grandchildren, Gavin, 
Bennett and Mason. 
She was the beloved wife 
of the late Ben Briskin. 
Interment was at Adat 
Shalom Memorial Park. 
Contributions may be 
made to Jewish Senior Life 
of Metropolitan Detroit, 
6710 W. Maple Road, West 
Bloomfield, MI 48322, 
jslmi.org. Arrangements by 
Ira Kaufman Chapel.

RICHARD 
EDGAR, 88, of 
Bingham Farms, 
died on March 
25, 2024. 
Mr. Edgar 
was a wonderful husband 
to Myrna (Glicker) for 
67 years. They were high 
school sweethearts at 
Mumford High who went 
on to marry in 1957 and 
have four children. They 
had lots of close friends and 
loved entertaining.
Mr. Edgar was a loving 
and generous father and 
grandfather. He was fun-
loving, loading the kids in 
his latest car for a foray to 
get hot fudge cream puffs, 
building a treehouse in the 
backyard, taking them on 
bike rides and weekends in 

New York City. He would 
buy the latest Beatles and 
Stevie Wonder records for 
his kids. Among his favorite 
things were violin and 
piano concertos, sailing, 
cinema and fine food, 
along with cars and dogs. 
He loved conversation 
and tended toward the 
philosophical. 
As a grandfather, Papa Dick 
was most happy bringing 
everyone together at home 
or away. He’d rent a boat and 
take everyone out tubing on 
Lake Charlevoix. He’d happily 
travel to Chicago and Arizona 
to babysit his grandchildren. 
Spending a week at Camp 
Michigania was a high point 
in his year.
Mr. Edgar was a graduate 
of the University of 
Michigan. He practiced as a 
CPA at various accounting 
firms throughout his career. 
He retired at the age of 
82 from Grant Millman 
& Johnson, PLC. He was 
valued by his clients and 
loved what he did.
His survivors are his wife 
Myrna; children, Cary and 
Stacie, Julie, Marla Horwitz, 
and Joan and David Evans; 
brother and sister-in-law, 
David and Ruth Edgar; 
grandchildren, Zach Edgar, 
Andrea and Scott Unger, 
Robert and Rachel Edgar; 
Alexann Greenstone, Joey 
Evans, Jonathan Evans, 
Daniel Sklar and Lev Sklar; 
great-grandchildren, Casey, 
Bran, Tessa and Dalia. 
Mr. Edgar was preceded 
in death by his sister Joy 
Vronsky. 
Interment was at Clover 
Hill Park Cemetery. 
Contributions may be 

continued on page 64

where his longtime support-
ers, particularly the hard-core 
Democrats who had support-
ed him over the years, could 
no longer defend him,
” Marvin 
Lender, who raised money for 
Lieberman in 2006, recalled 
in 2011. 
After the election, Obama 
made it clear that he wanted 
Lieberman to stay on his side. 
That meant Lieberman main-
tained his chairmanship of 
the Homeland Security com-
mittee while caucusing with 
Democrats.
He still had a bridge or 
two left to burn: On health 
care reform — a signature 
issue for Jewish Democrats — 
Lieberman equivocated until 
the last minute, ultimately 
casting his vote in favor.
His relationship with 
Obama remained cordial but 
tense. Lieberman took the 
lead in criticizing Obama’s 
approach to Israeli-Palestinian 
peacemaking as overly con-
frontational when Obama met 
last May with Jewish lawmak-
ers.
Lieberman maintained his 
fierce independence until the 
end. His career cap was a nod 
to his more liberal sensibilities, 
when, in the final weeks of 
2010, he earned kudos from 
liberals for enabling repeal in 
the Senate of the “don’t ask, 
don’t tell” rule that had made 
it impossible for gays to serve 
openly in the military. Gay 
activists did not fail to notice 
that Lieberman stuck out the 
vote, even though it was on 
Shabbat.
Yet, that also was a bridge 
burner of sorts. When 
Lieberman a few nights later 
attended a Republican Jewish 
Coalition party celebrating the 
GOP’s win of the U.S. House 
of Representatives, at least one 
GOP donor to Lieberman’s 

2006 campaign buttonholed 
him and said he would never 
again give him money because 
of his success in leading the 
“don’t ask” repeal.
Lieberman smiled, said he 
had to do what he had to do 
and left the party.
Last year, he became a 
founding co-chair of No 
Labels, an independent group 
laying the groundwork to put 
a centrist “unity ticket” on the 
2024 presidential ballot. After 
he wrote a Wall Street Journal 
op-ed “No Labels Won’t Help 
Trump,
” few Democrats were 
persuaded.
Following his retirement 
from the Senate, Lieberman 
returned to practicing law, 
and joined the conservative 
American Enterprise Institute 
think tank as co-chair-
man of their American 
Internationalism Project. He 
also held the Lieberman Chair 
of Public Policy and Public 
Service at Yeshiva University, 
where he taught an undergrad-
uate course in political science.
In August 2015, Lieberman 
became chairman of United 
Against Nuclear Iran, a group 
fiercely opposed to efforts by 
the Obama administration to 
broker a deal with Iran over its 
nascent nuclear program.
Lieberman was married 
twice. He and his first wife, 
Betty Haas, were married in 
1965 and had two children, 
Matt and Rebecca; the couple 
divorced in 1981. In 1983, he 
married Hadassah Freilich 
Tucker, who was previously 
married to Rabbi Gordon 
Tucker, the former senior rabbi 
of Temple Israel Center in 
White Plains, New York. He is 
survived by his wife and their 
daughter, Hana Lowenstein; 
Matt Lieberman and Rebecca 
Lieberman and a stepson, 
Rabbi Ethan Tucker. 

