Obituary of Benjamin L. Israel

age 93, of St. Louis Park, passed away Sunday, July 10. Dr. Israel was born in Kovel, Poland, on Valenine’s Day, 1923, arriving in America at the age of one. The family emigrated from Kiev, Ukraine, where his father, Victor, was a Hebrew School teacher and his mother, Manya, was the first woman dentist. He and his younger brother David were raised in Brooklyn, NY. Ben served in the Army in World War II, attended City College in New York, became a science teacher in elementary and junior high schools, and then an Assistant Principal in the Bedford –Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. He was also an accomplished accordion player and bandleader, beginning his music career in the famed “Borscht Belt” in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York where he worked with, among others, upcoming stars Sid Caesar and Hal Linden, and eventually supplemented his teacher earnings by playing bar/bat mitzvahs and weddings all over the New York area for a quarter century under the stage name “Lee Bennett”. In 1949, Ben met Joan Ross, also a schoolteacher, who was recently widowed and had a 5-year-old son, Roger. Ben and Joan married, with Ben legally adopting Roger, and their son Ken was born in 1953. In the mid ‘60s, Ben and Joan (along with Ken) came to live in the Twin Cities for two years to work on a project at the University of Minnesota (U of M) that involved rewriting math and science books to make them more meaningful to children from urban areas. Until then, children’s school books were very rural oriented. While in Minnesota, Ben began working on his doctorate in education and they encouraged their son Roger, who was attending New York University at the time, to transfer to the U of M. He did, and very soon met his future wife Marilyn while attending school there. They just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and the family was thrilled that Ben could be there. So was Ben! In 1986, Ben retired as a beloved and widely respected professor of education at Baruch College in New York City, and Joan retired as an elementary school teacher (she was also greatly adored by her students) and they moved to San Diego, where they made many new friends, kept in touch with old ones, remained very close to their children and grandchildren (and eventually great-grandchildren), volunteered in a number of charitable and service organizations, and traveled extensively. In February 2011, Joan passed away. With help from the family, Ben made a new life for himself at Knollwood Place in St. Louis Park, MN, where he quickly made many new and dear friends. Though he greatly missed Joan, his found joy and contentment in his new life in the hometown of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Many happy times were spent with family at birthday parties, holiday gatherings, and other events, and Ben was a regular attendee at his great-grandchildren’s plays, dance performances, athletic activities, and more, which he supported with what he called the “cultural endowment fund”. Extremely intelligent (he was known for being able to solve the Sunday New York Times crossword in minutes, not hours) and gifted, with a wonderful sense of humor, Ben could light up a room by telling stories, making others laugh, and making everyone, no matter their “station” in life, feel important and worthy. His boundless generosity was legendary, even as his relatively “thrifty” nature towards his own needs and wants astounded those who knew him best. He delighted in making those he loved happy, especially enjoying the opportunity late in life to be in close proximity to his great-grandchildren as they grew and thrived. Such simple pleasures as going to his great-granddaughter Stephanie’s karate lessons and accompanying her to Panera every Saturday brought him tremendous happiness. Ben was preceded in death by parents Victor and Manya, wife Joan, and son Ken. Ben is survived by brother David (Ruth), son Roger (Marilyn), grandchildren Michael (Laura Beth Landy), Dan, Marlee (Todd) Nirenstein, and Katherine and Adrienne Prescott, and six great-grandchildren – (in birth order) Stephanie, Ellen, Isaac, Maya, Siona, and Susannah. A celebration of life will be held Thursday, July 14 at Knollwood Place at 3630 Phillips Pkwy, St. Louis Park, MN 55426. Memorials preferred to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.