Rosa Blum

We celebrate the life of Rosa Hirsch Blum, Holocaust survivor of Auschwitz. She is survived by her son Gary, his wife Valeria and grandchildren Lucas, Julia and Ethan.

Rosa’s miraculous story of survival of the Auschwitz concentration camp has served as an inspiration to everyone who has witnessed her speaking about it. Her dedication to telling her story to audiences young and old all over Texas and the region gave her life meaning above and beyond her family life. She touched thousands of lives with her telling of her story of survival. Her bravery is forever archived at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, where she and her beloved husband, Osias, were among the original founders of the museum.

Her journey from her birthplace in Domokos, Romania, to Dallas was bridged by her Holocaust experience. She lost her entire family of grandparents, parents and all but one of her six siblings. Only one older brother, Gedalia, also survived, and he settled in Antwerpen, Belgium.

Soon after arriving in Dallas, she married the love of her life, a Polish man named Osias Blum, in 1950. They eventually had two children, Mark and Gary, though Mark was born with deafness. His handicap became another huge challenge for them as very little provision was made for educating the deaf in those days.

Rosa worked as a seamstress for various companies, then eventually for herself. She really loved to sew and enjoyed meeting new clients. In 1998 she contracted breast cancer and she survived that, too. The couple thrived in Dallas, living in their Lakewood house for many years. Then in 2011, Osias passed away. Rosa continued to occupy herself with sewing, regular speaking engagements and her love for aerobic swimming exercise with her friends at the Jewish Community Center of Dallas. She would drive herself every day to those swimming classes and loved every minute at the JCC.

Then in 2019, her son, Mark, passed away in his sleep and left a huge void in her home life. Fortunately, she was still surrounded by the love of her son Gary, his wife Valeria and the three grandchildren. In March 2020, the COVID-19 shutdown began and prevented her from having much of a social life. With the isolation and lack of activity, her walking capabilities declined and she had to move to assisted living in 2022. About a year later, in April 2023, she was hospitalized with pneumonia, which eventually led to her passing away Friday, June 30, 2023. She battled valiantly until the end, just as she did her entire miraculous life.

We honor her enormous legacy at this time of her passing — she was a shining light through a sea of darkness and a true inspiration for our lives and for everyone she touched.

The family requests that any donations in honor of Rosa should be made to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum.

A graveside service for Rosa was held July 3 at Shearith Israel Memorial Park on Dolphin Road.

Dorothy Jean Broodo

Dorothy Jean Broodo passed away peacefully on July 18, 2023 / 29 Tammuz 5783. She was the treasured matriarch of the Broodo family with four children: Marcia Rose Broodo Sinclair; Charlene Nathan; Jack Broodo and his wife Linda; and Kenneth Chaim Broodo and his wife Beth-Lauren. She was adored by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren Shea Alyssa Sinclair; Chelsea Rhianna Litoff (née Sinclair), her husband Austin Morris and their children Archer Louis and Marshall Aaron; Zachary Michael Nathan, his wife Dara and their children Naomi Evelyn, Judah Joseph and Abigail Miriam; Nicholas David Broodo ob”m; Daniel Harrison Broodo; Michael Broodo; Caleb Benjamin Broodo; Rachel Rosenberg (née Broodo), her husband Hillel Shlomo and their newborn son; Leah Esther Margolies (née Broodo), her husband Rafael Shmuel Chaim and their son Gavriel Azaryah; and Mordechai David Broodo.

Dorothy Jean was born Dec. 23, 1930, to Charles and Evelyn Marshall in Goose Creek, Texas, where she grew up alongside her many relatives in Baytown and Galveston. She attended Goose Creek and Baytown schools and then attended college at The University of Texas at Austin, where she received her bachelor’s degree in drama. At UT she met and fell for a handsome graduate student, marrying Dr. Archie Broodo ob”m on Sept. 2, 1951. From Austin they moved around as Archie developed his career, to Dallas; Fort Worth; Columbia, South Carolina; Florence, South Carolina; then, in 1966, back to Dallas, where they raised their family and remained. In Dallas, she went to work in 1970 to help the family and enjoyed a decade-long career with Shelly’s Tall Girl Shops, where she became the national director of some 55 stores across the U.S. while raising four children and taking care of her home.

Dorothy loved acting and appeared in numerous small-town performances including directing and taking the leading role in “Macbeth.” She also was an avid lifelong mah jongg player and always had a weekly game with her many friends over the years. Dorothy was deeply proud of her Judaism, sought out Jewish connections her entire life and encouraged her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to feel and do the same. She was very involved in Hadassah wherever she and Archie moved. She was a member and attendee at Congregation Ohr HaTorah Dallas from its inception in 1999.

Dorothy — also “Mom,” “Nonny” and “G-G” — loved her family dearly and always lit up anytime they were together. She forever praised and encouraged her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids and adored every one of them. Dorothy was preceded in her passing by her beloved grandson Nicholas David Broodo, her husband Archie and her sister Saralyn Uzick and is survived by her brother Jerry Marshall. She will be deeply missed. Her memory should be for a blessing.

Karl Heinz Frankl

Karl Heinz Frankl, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, died on July 18, 2023.

Karl was born in Guben, Germany. Karl was the only child of Carl and Anna Frankl. Carl was the technical director of a large hat manufacturer. They lived in Guben until Kristallnacht in 1938. Karl walked through the town with his father and saw the devastation at all the Jewish shops. Even though he was only 5 years old, that night left a lifelong impression on Karl. The SA (German Nazi troops) checked everywhere to find Jews. They asked a close non-Jewish friend of Karl’s father, Mr. Donat, whether Karl’s family was Jewish. He replied, “No, he is from Hungary and not Jewish and leave him alone.” Karl’s parents decided that they must leave Guben. They relocated to Vienna, Austria, in 1938. Karl’s father had lived in Vienna previously and through the compassion of a non-Jewish man named Ottmar Reich, the Frankl family was given protection and Carl’s dad was able to work for Mr. Reich due to Carl’s incredible reputation and technical expertise in the close-knit hat industry of Europe.

The Frankls moved around the Vienna area, often moving to avoid the Nazis. Karl was enrolled in school and the family managed to “hide in plain sight” from the Nazis. The synagogue was right next to Karl’s school and it was soon destroyed by the Nazis. Karl walked by those ruins every day and several boys who suspected him of being Jewish would throw rocks at him. On several occasions he would have to run home to have his mother tend to the wounds. One time they were so bad that he had to be taken to the hospital. This lasted for the next four years until Karl was enrolled in high school. There he met Gustav Bogner, who became his lifelong best friend.

After the war ended the family moved to Italy in Intra by Lago Maggiore, which is near the Swiss border. Karl began to work for his father in the hat industry. They lived in a beautiful villa with a view of the lake. They planned to stay in Italy forever; however, Karl’s father was offered a position in Johannesburg, South Africa. The opportunity was too good to pass up and they moved once again in 1952 when Karl was 19 years old. Karl went to work for his father at Dorian Hats and learned about the industry. As the family moved Karl showed an amazing ability to learn new languages, eventually speaking six languages fluently.

Karl met the love of his life, Shirley, at a birthday party in 1957. They had an instant connection and Karl would spend the rest of his life by her side. They got married on Feb. 23, 1960, and by 1962 Karl had convinced Shirley to move to San Francisco, California, to accept an offer to run a fashion organization. As they were planning to move Shirley found out that she was pregnant with their first child, Richard. Shirley wanted to stay close to her parents and they decided to stay in South Africa. They later were blessed with two more children, Linda and Peter.

With the decision to stay in South Africa cemented, Karl started his own fashion company in 1965. Karl achieved great success and he and Shirley built their dream house, where the young family would spend the next chapter of their lives. Karl and Shirley were very involved in the Jewish community and their neighbors became some of their best friends for life. While Karl and Shirley had built a seemingly ideal life, Karl was convinced that he needed to move his family to America both to escape the crumbling apartheid regime and to give his children the greatest possible opportunity for success.

The family left South Africa in 1977 and took a few months to travel Europe and see some of the places where Karl grew up. While in Vienna, the children all got chicken pox and the family’s departure to the U.S. was delayed. The kids were enrolled at the English Diplomatic School. Meanwhile Karl flew to Dallas, where he got a position with Resistol/Stetson Hats before bringing over the rest of the family to start their newest chapter. The family made Dallas their permanent home and to Karl’s delight his children chose to stay in Dallas as adults.

Upon retiring from the fashion industry, Karl, never one to like idle time, followed another passion and became a Realtor. He remained a Realtor into his 80s before finally retiring to enjoy his time with his kids and grandkids and traveling with his beloved wife. Karl always made time to support his favorite charities, mostly through quiet contributions, never wanting to garner attention for himself.

His greatest joy was in the successes of those who survive him: his wife, Shirley; their sons, Richard and Peter; daughter Linda and husband Mark Siegel; and his six grandchildren, Adam, Jenna and husband Hunter Morgan, Josh, Jason, Jordan and Dylan. Karl requested that a contribution be made to The Dallas Chapter of Hadassah, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or your preferred charity.

Myron Weiner

Myron (Mike) Frederick Weiner was born on June 4, 1934, to Eva Friedman and Morris Martin Finberg in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mike passed away peacefully at home on July 17, 2023, in Dallas.

Mike attended the University of Illinois at Champaign and Temple University in Philadelphia from 1951 to 1953. He took early enrollment at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1954 and graduated in 1957. They moved to Dallas for a rotating internship at Parkland Hospital. Next, he served two years with the U.S. Air Force in San Antonio. Mike returned to Dallas and Parkland/UT Southwestern for a residency in psychiatry. He was a faculty member at UT Southwestern for more than 50 years — the first 16 years in conjunction with a private practice, later as full-time vice chair of psychiatry and after 2013 as emeritus professor of psychiatry, serving as mentor and collaborator for junior faculty and trainees.

Following a fellowship in 1984-85 in geriatrics and adult development at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, he directed his professional attention to old-age psychiatry and Alzheimer’s disease. He established the geriatric psychiatry training program at UT Southwestern and for 15 years directed the clinical core of UT Southwestern’s federally funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

Mike was a prolific medical writer, including authorship or co-authorship of more than 10 books with topics on therapist disclosure and Alzheimer’s disease, culminating in his senior editorship of “The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Alzheimer Disease,” published in 2012.

Mike met Jeanette Harmon in 1977 at the behest of a mutual friend. Their first date was when restaurants still featured music and dancing, in addition to food. There, while doing a slow dance, they each experienced the sensation of melting together and both suspected this was “it.” Mike proposed several months later, and they married in 1978.

He also enjoyed writing poems and short stories. His first poem was published while still in high school. In his dry manner, he described himself as having moved from adult to children’s fiction.

He is survived by sons Daniel (Karen) and Gary Weiner (Mary Anne); stepson Darrel Harmon (Lora); stepdaughter Holly Pennett (Barry); grandchildren Lee Weiner (Jackie), David Weiner (Kathleen), Jack Weiner, Carly Weiner, Maddie Weiner, Hannah Harmon and Samantha Harmon; and great-grandson Elliott Weiner.

His proudest achievements were the blending of two families and his relationships with his grandchildren, some of whom he traveled with to visit colleges. He communicated with them as much as possible. The visits were exhausting but rewarding and strengthened bonds of mutual respect and love.

A graveside ceremony was held on July 22 at Sparkman Hillcrest Cemetery, officiated by Chaplain Mike Davis of Baylor University Medical Center.

Please make contributions to the UT Southwestern Alzheimer’s Disease Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, c/o Office of Development.