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Hal Grossman

Hal GrossmanHal Grossman, who was very active in the Colorado Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, passed away Dec. 21, 2011. A memorial service was held Dec. 23 at a private residence. Olinger’s made the arrangements.

“Many were touched by his abiding curiosity and enthusiasm for life,” the family said.

Born May 10, 1927, Mr. Grossman was raised in the New York City area, where his parents ran a luncheonette in the garment district. He worked at several resorts in the Catskills as a youth and later as a farmhand.

After graduating Newtown High School in Elmhurst, NY, he completed a degree in graphic arts at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1948 in Manhattan.

He married Ena Black from Leeds, England, in 1954. The couple moved to Denver in 1956 and divorced in 1961. He then married Jeannette Muskat in 1962. They divorced in 1992.

Mr. Grossman, who worked in the world of advertising and commercial graphics, pursued nature, photography, travel and social Jewish causes throughout his life.

In addition to exploring the Colorado Rockies, he traveled to Central America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and Europe, returning with great stories and photographs. His last adventure abroad was Argentina in 2007.

Mr. Grossman was a founding member of Havurah “D” of the Colorado Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and edited the organization’s newsletter for several years.

Active in the movement to rescue Ethiopian Jews in the 1980s, he traveled to the country to donate clothes and household items to the Jewish people.

Mr. Grossman also volunteered at the Mizel Museum and the Museum of Natural History. An advocate for the preservation of Yiddish books, he was thrilled to visit the new campus of the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass.

During the last decade of his life, Mr. Grossman exhibited his photographs throughout Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain News published his 1945 photos of VE Day in New York City.

Mr. Grossman is survived by his three sons Aaron Benavot, Waren (Ray) Grossman and Michael (Maggie) Grossman; granddaughters Moriya and Helah Benavot; and Ruhama Benavot.

Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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