Parcourez la nécrologie de Charles Bedzow 2023 résidant dans la province Quebec pour le détail des funérailles
Charles Bedzow
September 28, 1924 – December 31, 2022
Charles Bedzow, born Chonon Bedzowski (Z”L) on September 28, 1924, died at age 98, peacefully at home with family at his bedside, early on Shabbat morning December 31, 2022.
Charles Bedzow was born in the town of Lida, Poland (now Belarus) into a middle class Jewish family. Before World War II Lida was home to a small thriving Jewish population and its 12 synagogues. In June 1941 Lida was occupied by German troops. The Jews were forced into a pestilent ghetto where Charles’ father died. In 1943, when Charles was only 17 years old, he broke out of the Lida ghetto and, in a daring and elaborate escape, led his mother Chasia, sisters Leah and Sonia and young brother Benny through the forests surrounding their town, eventually meeting up with Tuvia Bielski and his partisan group, the famous Bielski Otriad (brigade). Bielski was unique among the partisan groups because it was composed of young and old, men and women. Charles was an armed Bielski combatant responsible for scouting, sabotage, and ambush of Nazi trains and soldiers.
Lida was liberated at the end of the war and Charles and his family were evacuated to Lodz, in central Poland. There he met Sara Golcman ((Z”L) a young Jewish woman who survived the war as a partisan of the Glowver Forest Otriad. Their love was instantaneous and overwhelming and they remained together for 78 years until Sara’s recent death. Charles and Sara and the small remnant of Sara’s family made their way overland to a Displaced Persons camp in Torino, Italy where Charles and Sara married in 1946. Their first child, a daughter Frances, was born in the DP camp in 1948. Assisted by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the new family immigrated to free and beautiful Montreal, Canada in 1949. Charles and Sara cheerfully set up their home in a walk up tenement, where they were not destined to stay for long.
Opportunities abounded in post-War Montreal. Charles worked 7 days a week, first as a push cart peddler on the frozen streets of east end Montreal of which he was very proud (years later he would buttonhole the rich and famous and tell them, with aggression, “you know I was a peddler”) then as a jewler, then as a builder and developer of homes and high rise apartment and office buildings in Montreal, Ottawa, Washington DC, California and Miami where thousands of people live and work until today, and ultimately as a philanthropist. He was profoundly grateful for the freedom afforded to him by Canada and the United States and he loved those countries with all his heart. He was a fierce supporter of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Accompanied by his wife Sara he visited Israel on a great many occasions. Their final trip to Israel was on the occasion of the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem in May 2018. It had been a long trip from the forests of Belarus.
Charles really knew how to raise charitable donations. From 1965 on he was recognized on multiple occasions for outstanding contributions to State of Israel Bonds campaigns. In 1991 he was awarded the Israel Peace Medal of the State of Israel Bonds for his participation in the Soviet Jewry Housing Campaign. He sat on the Board of Trustees and International Board of Governors of Touro College and in 1997 that college awarded Charles an Honoris Causa as a Doctor of Humane Letters. In 2007 the World Jewish Congress awarded Charles the Nahum Goldmann Leadership Award, in 2010 the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center awarded Charles the Jerusalem Gold Award, in 2011 the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation recognized Charles for “extreme courage in the face of adversity” as a partisan in the Bielski Otriad, in 2012 the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center Holocaust Memorial issued a special tribute to Charles and Sara Bedzow “Partisan Heros from your fellow survivors”. Charles was international chairman of the Rabbinical College of America, World Wide Lubavitch Movement and in 2014 that college conferred on Charles the Honorary degree Doctor of Laws.
Charles Bedzow’s beloved wife of 76 years, Sara died on April 3, 2022. Charles and Sara are survived by daughter Frances (Howard), son Michael (Caryn) and daughter Esther (Allan), eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Charles loved his children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, showered them with gifts and affection and guaranteed their education.
Charles Bedzow’s early life was characterized by adversity and mortal danger but he overcame everything. His enemies who tried so hard to kill him, the Nazis, the Poles, the Belarusians, are long dead. Charles outlived them all and went on to achieve great success in Canada and America. Charles and his wife Sara lost so much and so many, but ultimately they were victorious and successful, proud of their family and the reborn State of Israel.
Shiva will take place at the: Bedzow Residence 5757 Collins Avenue PH4 Miami Beach, FL 33140 305-794-0057 On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday From 5:30 to 8:30 pm, with Minyan services at 5:30 pm. Parking is limited, please consider using Uber. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Charles Bedzow’s honor to Jewish Partisan Education Foundation www.jewishpartisans.org and/or The Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center Holocaust Memorial Fund 305-935-0666 and/or Chevra Kadisha Bnai Jacob, Montreal, Canada www.thechevra.ca and/or Rabbinical College of America www.rca.edu/
2023
Décès pour la Ville: Montreal, Province: Quebec
avis deces Charles Bedzow 2023
necrologie Charles Bedzow 2023
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