The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, August 12, 2010


Sam Sobel dies By LAUREL NOBLE Riverdale resident, active member and for-


mer president of the Conservative Synagogue Adath of Israel Riverdale, Sam Sobel passed away over the weekend of August 1. Sobel was considered a "chaver" (friend)


at CSAIR, an honor given only to major contributors of service and support. "Sam was a representative of the person


we look to for wisdom and knowledge in world events,” said Irving Latimer, his friend of 15 plus years. Sobel died in his apartment on River-


dale Avenue of natural causes. “But I think he died of a broken heart,”


Latimer said. Just a year and a half ago, Sobel’s beloved wife, Edith Sobel, passed away. Edith was also very active in the community and


was the chair of CSAIR’s social action commit- tee. They were a loving and supportive couple who seemed to do everything together. A Holocaust survivor, Sobel came over


to the United States at the age of 12. He worked in the sheet metal trade until he injured his back on the job. This led him to a job as a librarian for the United Na- tions, and he proceeded to study library science at Rutgers University. As a Riverdale resident, Sobel was very


active in community organizations. He read to the blind, made sure that elderly CSAIR members made it to synagogue on time, and tended—financially and physi- cally—to the Holocaust Garden at CSAIR. He was also a member of the Hebrew In- stitute of Riverdale Community Choir. Sobel and his wife organized a fund called


the Learning Disabilities of Young People, in honor of their only son, Herschel.


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