Bernard Gerson Obituary (1925 - 2012)

Bernard “Bernie” Gerson passed away peacefully on May 19th, 2012, just three days before his 87th birthday. He was pre-deceased by his beloved wife, Marion, of 54 years. Bernard was born and educated in New York City, Graduating from New York University in 1949 in Italian Renaissance History. Serving as a medical corpsman in the WWII, Bernard was honorably discharged from both the U S Navy and the Fleet Marines in 1944. Bernard and Marion moved to Columbus in the early 1950’s, established a business and built their beautiful custom-designed home. He traveled to Europe for business and was one of the first entrepreneurs to enter China to arrange for production and importation of goods. He was known to family and friends’ children as the “toy man.” Bernard was socially and politically active, writing letters to local newspapers and writing a blog regarding many universal and local issues. He was an active member of many local groups; Jewish Veterans, President of the Beth Jacob Synagogue, and many groups in support of Israel. He made many trips to Israel and had a second Bar Mitzvah there on his 73rd birthday. A founding member of the Israel Club of Columbus, it invested funds in Israeli companies. He was also a member of the Free Loan Society which was established to make small, non-interest bearing loans to Russian Jewish and other emigrants. An ardent swimmer, Bernie enjoyed the facilities at the Columbus Jewish Center. He also enjoyed dancing. Family and friends were his great joy. He was the son of Russian Immigrants, Fanny and Harry Gershenberg, who lived in Columbus for many years. Surviving Bernard are his brother, Professor Irving Gershenberg and his wife Linnea of Berkeley, California and his brother and sister-in-law, Edith and Fred Gottesman of New York. There are many nieces and nephews that he treated as his own children as well as many cousins. Bernard chose to live out his life in Columbus where his numerous friends embraced him with great compassion and love. To have known Bernard was to be blessed. He was very generous and loyal to his friends, notably his adopted family, Rikki Santer, Marc and Parker Ross and a long list of Bernard’s many cherished friends. A MEMORIAL SERVICE WILL BE HELD AT BETH JACOB CONGREGATION ON JUNE 24, 2012 AT 5:00PM. He will be buried next to Marion at the Wellwood Cemetery on Long Island, NY on May 21