Sidney "Zel" Bender

Bender, Sidney "Zel"
Passed from this earth on Dec. 13, 2005, in West Hills, CA. Son of Sol and Rae Bender. Zel was born in Philadelphia, on Dec. 11, 1923. Son of a garment worker, he grew up in a row house with his older brother Abie, and younger sisters Selma and Doris. Zel became a pitcher on the baseball team of legendary Overbrook High, nicknamed "Chief Bender," while becoming a prolific master of drawing. Zel went to intelligence/language school for the liberation of the occupied Philippines. He and thousands of brothers found themselves on a cool early morning in late Oct., 1944, in the invasion of Leyte Gulf. Zel was immediately injured on the first wave, felled on the sands near Dulag. He used the GI Bill to enroll at the Univ. of Pennsylvania to study architecture. A skilled and creative drawer, particularly of portraits using pencil, charcoal, pastel and pen and ink, Zel produced a large body of art though the next five decades. He also founded and ran a sole architectural practice in Camden, NJ, designing family homes and commercial buildings throughout the tri state area. He found Naomi "Niki" Salis, an aspiring writer from Northeast Philadelphia. They married in 1950, and remained a loving couple for 53 years until Niki's passing in Palm Springs, in Dec., 2003. They had a daughter, Hilary, and a son, Marc. Zel continued to weave his artist's magic, almost up to the close of his days. His art evolved with the changing world, and was exhibited both in Philly and Palm Springs. Zel is survived by his daughter Hilary Simonetti, his daughter-in-law Leslie Simon, his son Marc Bender, his devoted grandsons Arlo and Phil Bender-Simon, and his second dachshund, Penny. We will remember a loving, expressive and gentle soul, a person who brought color and life to a world all too much in need of that. He will be sorely missed by friends and family. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Sweatshop Watch, the AIDS Health Care Foundation, or the Alzheimers Foundation.