Martin Scheinkman

Martin Scheinkman was born in 1920 in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. He went to college at New York City College where he was a JV and Varsity basketball player until he volunteered for the Army Air Corps during WWII. During the war he was a navigator on supply planes flying the Hump over the Himalayas as well as across the Atlantic and the Arctic. After the war he spent some time as a semi-professional basketball player with a team in Troy, NY. He also went to Toulouse, France to be a combination Player-Coach with l'Universite de Toulouse basketball team. He was a New York City fire fighter with engine 240. Ultimately he wound up back in the Air Force flying Weather Reconnaissance missions through hurricanes in the Caribbean and along the Atlantic coast, a mission later taken over by NASA. He continued on in the Air Force during the Korean War rising up through the ranks eventually to Lt. Col. and retired in Tucson after being commander of the 570th Strategic Missile Squadron at DMAFB. He became an avid golfer while in Tucson insisting on walking the entire course while his friends would often take a golf cart. After he retired he went back to college at the University of Arizona on the GI bill and earned a Bachelor's degree in French language and a Master's in Public Administration. He interned and later was hired with the Pima Council on Aging where he did much good fighting for pensions for the elderly for 20 years. During that time he also volunteered with Southern Arizona Mental Health Corporation and was appointed to several Arizona Governor's councils and Advisory Boards. And he was on the Pima County Human Rights Committee. Politically he was a proud liberal who loved his country, yet never saw anything that could not be improved; was a lifelong Democrat; was against the Vietnam and Iraq wars; and his last vote was proudly and delightedly given to President Barack Obama. He had seen many examples of racism throughout his life including friends in college who had suffered from it, and therefore donated significantly to Morris Dees' Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) saying "they do good work" to fight racism. He was preceded in death by his much adored older brother, Allan and his dearly missed first love and wife, artist Gerry (Malloy) Scheinkman. He is survived by his beloved children from his first marriage, Tracy Scheinkman and Sean Scheinkman; his second wife, Helen Cook and her children from her previous marriage, his sister-in-law, Doris Scheinkman; nieces, Susan, Betsy and Nancy and nephew, Michael. While he never fully understood his daughter Tracy's love of horses, she says his kindness and generosity enabled her to have a life with them for which she is eternally grateful. He died in the early hours of June 19, 2015 at the age of 95. A Memorial Service will be held at a later date. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org). Arrangements by NEPTUNE SOCIETY.