Harry Strauss

Our beloved husband, dad, father-in-law, and grandfather died January 17, 2025, of complications related to Parkinson's Disease. He was born Hans Strauss in Reinheim, Germany. At age 4, he was forced to leave Germany along with his older sister Margot and his parents Sally and Jettchen. The family emigrated to the United States and began their new life in New York. His parents worked long hours and Hans, who changed his name to Harry, worked in the evenings with his parents and sister sewing shoes, and started working in a chocolate store at age 11.

After attending George Washington High School in New York, he worked his way through the University of Michigan, majoring in journalism. He was then drafted into the United States army and sent to West Berlin where, at Rosh Hashana

services, he met his future sister-in-law who introduced him to the future love of his life, Ruth Kroll, his partner for over 66 years. He and Ruth first lived in San Jose, California, then Portland, Oregon, before settling in Baltimore, Maryland, where Harry continued his work as a disability analyst with the Social Security Administration (SSA). He and Ruth raised two daughters, Andrea and Stephanie, in the Baltimore suburbs. After retiring from the SSA, he began a second career as a volunteer for Health Education Resource Organization (HERO), Baltimore's first grassroots community-based organization helping people with HIV and AIDS. Harry was also a reliable and loving babysitter for his grandchildren and could be spotted with them catching the light rail to the airport to watch planes, or out walking to any destination serving good espresso.

Harry was a voracious reader of books and newspapers and was passionate about the arts. Since his youth in New York, he loved theatre, opera, dance, and musical performances. He had uncanny recall for the names of authors, actors, musical pieces, and characters even decades after reading the book or watching the performance. He volunteered for years on the board of the Baltimore Film Forum, helping to produce a yearly film festival. He was keenly domestic, a talented baker, a meticulous housekeeper, a brewer of perfect cups of tea and coffee, and Ruth's sous chef. His daughters fondly recall Saturdays filled with the aroma of baking bread and the music of the Metropolitan Opera live on the radio. He and Ruth traveled extensively throughout the country and Europe, rarely missing an art museum in any city, large or small. He was an avid walker, logging several miles a day into his late 80s.

Above all, Harry was devoted to his family. His love for Ruth, Andrea, Stephanie, his son-in-law Bill Regenold and his daughter-in-law Alegria Cupit was palpable. He cultivated relationships with his grandchildren that strengthened as they grew. Indeed, his grandchildren, Simon, Nina, and David Regenold and Ari and Ian Strauss cherish their close relationships with their Morfar.

His family will greatly miss his presence, his bagels, his newspaper and New Yorker cartoon clippings, and his dry sense of humor. He died peacefully, with his family gathered lovingly around him.

If desired, donations in his memory can be made to Moveable Feast in Baltimore, the Southern Poverty Law Center, or the Metropolitan Opera.