Irwin Donald Rozner

Irwin Donald Rozner

Global demand for chapstick decreased sharply July 17 with the passing of Irwin Donald Rozner. A man of simple tastes, he pocketed a tube of the compact, sweet-smelling wax on all outings.

These travels included trips to the library for barbell-heavy history books, a men's club to sing, Yiddish class, local delis for tuna on toasted rye, and his favorite places of all: Mariano's (peanut butter) and the drugstore (flashlights).

Some journeys, accompanied by a bulging roll-on of over-the-counter salves, carried him much further, and initially inconceivably, to China, Russia, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Argentina, Mexico, the Galápagos Islands and beyond-worlds away from his childhood apartment in Logan Square, where he lived with his father, Milton, older siblings, Marilyn and Marvin, and for a tragically short period of time his diminutive mother, Anna.

The death of Anna defined the rest of his life; he never recovered from the loss, speaking of it even in his final years. Her illness and passing coincided almost entirely with the beginning and end of World War II, a catastrophe he became an armchair expert on and was the central theme of mixed media art he created privately and shared publicly only once in his 70s.

Passionate Zionism, birthed in 1948, lived deep in his heart, forever and always.

Irwin attended Darwin Elementary, Roosevelt High School, and DePaul University for college and Law School-education he financed on his own. Immediately following graduation, he served his duty at an Army post in Pennsylvania, not in combat but in an office as an attorney. Upon completion, he opened and maintained a solo law practice focused on labor issues in the transportation sector. For 50 years, he worked from offices on LaSalle, in Des Plaines, and under voluminous stacks at a basement desk in his home.

Irwin met Holly Fleischman, beloved wife, at a mixer in 1965. The story goes like this: he called her "honey," she said "my name is Holly," and four weeks later she proposed to him. They married four months later, built a loving life, and grew together for nearly 60 years. He was so proud to own a home in Wilmette, and later in Glencoe, and while not the least bit handy, he puttered like the best of them and bravely killed spiders. His joy, his loves, arrived in 1968 and 1971–Jory and Elory. He loved them so dearly.

Irwin spoke a little bit of Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish, but he was fluent in gibberish, spouting nonsense words in silly voices. "Nunjagayasaya." What? His daughters proudly carry the tradition-perhaps a genetic marker-of these voices with their own families.

Irwin lived to the age of 92 on a diet of Hershey bars and buttered bread and an exercise routine of warm smiles and easy laughs.

Irwin Donald Rozner: devoted husband of Holly Rozner (née Fleischman), beloved father of Jory Rozner Strosberg (David) and Elory Rozner (Steve Ross), and deeply adored grandpa of Sigi, Simone, Sid, and Posey. May his lips be forever balmed.

Service Sunday 1PM at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd (at Niles Center Road), Skokie. Interment Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish Living, 1185 Sheridan Rd, Glencoe, IL 60022, https://aitzhayim.org/ or Friends of the IDF, Heyworth Building, 29 E Madison St, Chicago, IL 60602, www.fidf.org. To attend the funeral livestream, please visit our website. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com