Steven Ira Ginsberg
Nov. 3, 1946 – May 24, 2025

Steven Ira Ginsberg, 78, a Fort Worth attorney and baal t’kiah at Beth-El Congregation, died May 24 at the James L. West Center. Challenged in recent years with Parkinson’s disease, Steven set an example as his spirit pushed forward with rhythm and grace even when speech and memory were harder to hold.

At Steven’s interment May 27 in the Beth-El Section at Greenwood Cemetery, two shofar blowers sounded ancient notes on the ram’s horn as his body was laid to rest.

Steven was born in Tyler on Nov. 3, 1946, and grew up attending Ahavath Achim Synagogue. He played cornet in the band at Robert E. Lee High School and with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. A 1968 graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans, Steven earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology. At Southern Methodist University School of Law, he earned his Juris Doctor in 1971 and was associate editor of the Journal of Air Law and Commerce.

While at Tulane, Steven met and fell in love with Jeanne Kemp, a coed at Newcomb College. In 1969, the couple married in her hometown, Anniston, Alabama, at Temple Beth El — the state’s oldest synagogue and a 19th-century landmark.

Steven worked in Washington, D.C., from 1971 to 1975 at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, collaborating with federal judges nationwide. Beginning in 1972, he also served the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

At Beth-El in Fort Worth, he served on the board, chaired the Ritual Committee, officiated at services when the rabbi was out of town and was awarded the Brotherhood’s annual Mickey Goldman Award for Extraordinary and Continuing Service.

Steven was predeceased by his parents, Fannie and Hyman Ginsberg, and his sister, Doris Ginsberg Diamond.

He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; his daughter, Lisa Ginsberg Matthews (Joe); his son, Michael Ginsberg (Orianne); three grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.