Jay Woldenberg

Woldenberg, Jay Moses Jay Moses Woldenberg, 83, died April 29, from complications associated with meningitis. Born in Hubbard Woods, he was the youngest of three sons of Maximillian and Rose Woldenberg. He attended Hubbard Woods School and St. John's Military Academy before graduating from New Trier High School. He served in the army from 1945-47. While attending the University of Illinois, he attained the top singles position on the tennis team, in addition to being the table tennis champion, before earning a bachelor's degree in ceramic engineering. Jay Woldenberg founded two soil engineering equipment companies, Testlab, in Chicago, in the mid-1950s, and, later, Geotest Instrument Corp. in Evanston, which he sold in 2009, and then served as a consultant, still hoping to start another business. He played competitive tennis from the 1940s to the 1970s, for many years as a top state player. He was also an avid league bowler who, as a student, had a job setting up the pins. In 1950, Jay Woldenberg married Norene Patten, who worked for his father's company. They lived in Glencoe and raised seven children before divorcing in 1971. After a brief second marriage, he married Sue Raetz in 1985, of Lincolnwood who, with her son John, survives him. He is also survived by his first wife, their children (Janice Miller, Susan, Jeanne Eberhart, Holly Grieve, Lisa Janoschka, Jay, and Wendy), and eight grandchildren (Jacob and Noah Eberhart, Delaney and Harper Grieve, Henry, Theodore and Elliott Woldenberg, and Braxton Miller). A devoted vegan in his later decades, Mr. Woldenberg was active in the vegetarian community, and supported many peace- and tolerance-based charities. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be on Saturday, May 21, from 4pm to 8pm, at the Ethical Humanist Society, 7574 N. Lincoln Ave., Skokie, IL.