George E. Preston

PRESTON

GEORGE E., 92, of Wilmington, Del., died Nov. 8, 2006. Born Grisza Priszkulnik on March 31, 1914, in Rovno, Russia (now Rivne, Ukraine). Retired DuPont Co. electrical engineer. Master's degree in electrical and mechanical engineering, University of Caen, France, 1937. Arrested by Gestapo on Aug. 8, 1942, in Lille, France. Imprisoned in Nazi death camps Buchenwald and Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was tattooed 160581 and where he was among skilled prisoners working as slave laborers for Siemens-Schuckert (now Siemens AG). Weighed 80 pounds at liberation by U.S. troops from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. Came to U.S. 1946. Testified at Auschwitz war-crimes trials in Frankfurt in March 1965. Predeceased by his first wife, Halina Wind Preston. Survivors: his wife, Charlotte; a son, David Lee Preston (Ronda B. Goldfein, Esq.) of Philadelphia; a daughter, Cantor Shari Ann Preston of Redondo Beach, Calif.; three stepsons, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Hon. Christopher S. Sontchi (Siobhan L. Irwin, MD) of Hockessin, Del., Michael Sontchi, Esq. (Jennifer), of Wilmington, Jonathan Sontchi (Meredith) of Tuckerton, N.J.; four step-grandchildren. Services and burial were Nov. 10. Donations may be sent to: Halina Wind Preston Holocaust Lecture Fund, c/o Jewish Federation of Delaware, 100 W. 10th St., Suite 301, Wilmington, DE 19801.

SCHOENBERG MEMORIAL CHAPEL, Wilmington