Old age, no doubt a blessing, also runs a risk, amply illustrated by Gene Weisberg, who died last week at the age of 95. The risk is that few will remember you within the context in which you distinguished yourself. In the case of Gene Weisberg, the risk is doubled in that part of his greatness was the way he sustained the business and the charitable works of his father-in-law, Henry Frankel — who deserves to be remembered in his own right, not just through the lens of his son-in-law.
Gene Weisberg bestrode this community for decades as an exemplary leader. His era was a time when it was unusual for Jews to “break out,” to get past the often silent barriers of anti-Semitism that were no less real for their subtlety. In a nod to the pre-technology era of the beginning and middle of the last century, Henry Frankel and Gene Weisberg’s business was “Frankel Carbon and Ribbon.” Ask a young or even a middle-aged person today what “carbon” and “ribbons” are and you’re likely to get a blank look. Yet it was business leadership in the typewriter era that allowed the Frankels, including Henry Frankel’s daughter Beth and her husband Gene, to exert the leadership they did.
When the JCC was coming out of its somnambulence on the old West Side and setting the community afire, so to speak, with its sparkling new facility on the East Side, where it stands today, it was Gene Weisberg who was one of the JCC presidents who made it happen.
When Green Gables Country Club was in its heydey — when it was, yes, a sports and social center, but also a statement by the Jewish community that it would not be relegated to second-class citizenship via, again, the silent anti-Semitism — it was Gene Weisberg who was one of its presidents.
Once upon a time General Rose Memorial Hospital (now Rose Medical Center and Rose Community Foundation) was a major focus of Jewish philanthropy, and Weisberg played a leading role there too. Add to that his major roles in the Allied Jewish Federation and Temple Emanuel.
And all this doesn’t touch on the personal impact Weisberg made. His family told the IJN that “Gene was a remarkable man with a giant personality and charisma. He attracted celebrities and athletes from every social scene . . . ” We couldn’t put it better.
Gene Weisberg loved life and gave amply to his community. He will be sorely missed.
Copyright © 2015 by the Intermountain Jewish News
