Max Rosenbaum, 85, Australia, father of ‘Crown Heights pogrom’ victim, dies, Jan. 3

Max Rosenbaum, 85, whose life was changed irrevocably after his son’s 1991 death in race riots in Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Crown Heights neighborhood, died Friday, Jan. 3, 2007, of a heart attack in Melbourne, Australia.

Yankel Rosenbaum, 29, was killed in riots that started after a driver in the entourage of the Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, accidentally hit and killed a 7-year-old black child,

Two more notable Jewish deaths in 2007: Grace Paley, Tillie Olsen

An astute reader noticed that two significant Jewish women writers who died in 2007 were not on our list of notable 2007 Jewish deaths. So, we will make up for the oversight.

Richard H. Friedman, 56, U.S., lawyer, drowning, Dec. 30

Richard H. Friedman, 56, an attorney active in the Jewish community of Albany, N.Y., died in a swimming accident while on vacation with his family in Puerto Rico, Dec. 30, 2007.

Friedman was a member of the board of Albany’s Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue, president of its Men’s Club, and former president of Albany’s Jewish day school, Bet Shraga Hebrew Academy.

(In My Heart Editor’s Note: I once lived in Albany, and knew Friedman by sight, as well as all the individuals quoted in this story. My condolences to his family, friends and the extended Albany, New York, Jewish community, a tight-knit group. I invite anyone from Albany who knew Friedman to write a comment to this article or to send us an email, which we will post in Friedman’s honor.)

Notable Jewish deaths of 2007: Year in review

Wall painting by Sol LeWitt

Here is the In My Heart list of notable 2007 Jewish deaths as reported in the trade media, New York Times, Canadian Press and elsewhere. This list certainly isn’t complete. First of all, we have left out most of the names you’ll find elsewhere on In My Heart. And we’re sure there are many others. Please send updates and corrections to us at In My Heart.

Remembering Irv Letofsky, Hollywood journalist, who died Dec. 23

From “Tabloid Baby”

Irv, we hardly knew ye.

We found out yesterday that Irv Letofsky died this week at 76.

(In My Heart Editor: Hollywood Reporter says Letofsky died of liver cancer)

Irv was a television critic for The Hollywood Reporter, former editor of the Los Angeles Times Calendar section and an important collector of film lobby and title cards and other memorabilia.

He also has a unique place in tabloid history.

Irv is among those mentioned in the acknowledgments of the book, “Tabloid Baby.” Back in early Nineties, he wrote about the tabloid television show “Hard Copy” for The Hollywood Reporter, and his articles were cited by author Burt Kearns. A decade later, Letofsky and Kearns wound up working together on Frozen Pictures’ documentary series, “All The Presidents’ Movies,” that ran on Bravo and will one of these days wind up on DVD.

Irv had been the connection to Paul Fischer, the former White House projectionist who was at the center of the acclaimed presidents project.

Irv was very well-liked by print journos in LA. Over at our pal Ray Richmond’s Past Deadline site, Barry Garron writes:

“There will never be another like him… He was a genius. He was a mentor. He was capable of the driest wit and the greatest insight. He was never without a mischievous twinkle in his eye or a half-dozen projects on his agenda…”

Reprinted with permission from Tabloid Baby

Barry Garron further describes Irv Letofsky:

This gentle and genial soul was, at one time or another, a reporter (St. Paul Pioneer Press), an assistant city editor (Minneapolis Tribune), a features editor (Sunday Calendar of the Los Angeles Times), an executive producer of a documentary and a short film, an author and a key figure in establishing the Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre in Minneapolis.

He was an important collector of film lobby and title cards and other film memorabilia. He donated part of his collection to his alma mater, the University of North Dakota, and to the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. He lent part to the Richard Nixon Library.

Letofsky is survived by his wife, actress Brian Ann, and four children.

Sylvan Fox, 79, U.S., journalist, dies, Dec. 22

Sylvan Fox, 79, a journalist whose beats ranged from Vietnam, to the Kennedy assassination, to a memorable plane crash, and who won a Pulitzer Prize as a newspaper rewrite man, died Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007, of complications from pneumonia.

Fox won his Pulitzer Prize for being part of a team covering an airplane crash on Long Island, New York, in which all 95 passengers were killed. Fox was in the office of the now-defunct World-Telegram & Sun newspaper fielding all the field reporters’ calls and then turning out a complete story 30 minutes after the crash. He kept rewriting the article and turned in a 3,000-word piece within 90 minutes of the event.

Adiel Shmuel, 12, Israel, car accident, Dec. 12

Adiel Shmuel, 12, of Beersheva in Israel’s northern Negev desert, died Dec. 12, 2007, of injuries from a horrific car accident that hurt six from his family and eight overall.Shmuel’s death was the 403rd of the year from car accidents in Israel.

Remembering Saadia Marciano, Israeli ‘Black Panthers’ leader

By Sami Shalom Chetrit

Sa’adia Marziano says today: “We called to raise the social banner, especially when the security situation is difficult. There was a man named Moshe Dayan, his memory be blessed, who said at the time that it’s forbidden to raise both banners (security and social) at the same time, and that was a strong edict in those days. But we embarked on a struggle and said both banners must always be raised, because a weak society, socially and culturally degenerate, suffering from harsh poverty, will never be militarily strong either.”

Rosemarie Koczy, Germany, U.S., 68, artist, Holocaust survivor, Dec. 12

Rosemarie Koczy, 68, who survived a childhood in German concentration camps and later spent years creating searing art infused with images of Holocaust victims, died from breast cancer Dec. 12, 2007.

Her works have been gaining increasing stature, despite her status as an art world “outsider,” that is, someone who was not believed to be formally trained in art and who did not travel in art world circles. Her art, including tapestries and pen-and-ink drawings, has been shown in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

Robert Dov HaEzrachi (Wieckowski), Poland, Israel, diving accident, Dec. 13

Robert Dov HaEzrachi (Wieckowski), 44, a Polish-born Israeli and scuba diving guide and instructor, died in a diving accident at Dahab, Sinai, Egypt, Dec. 13, 2007.

HaEzrachi’s death was first announced on the website of Pardes Institute, a Jewish studies center in Jerusalem, where he had been a student from 2003-2005.