Joshua Benanav

BENANAV--Joshua Benanav, 84, of White Plains, NY, died Saturday, March 24, 2007. Born Joshua Szereny in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia on November 18, 1922, he was the son of the late Bertha (Freiberg), who died in Auschwitz Concentration camp in 1944, and Bela Szereny, who died in Mathausen Concentration Camp in 1945. After escaping from a slave labor unit in Romania in 1944 Joshua and his wife emigrated to Palestine. In 1948-1950 he was an officer in the Israeli Army, where he led a unit participating in the liberation of Eilat. In 1949 Joshua changed his family name to Ben-Anav. In 1953, Joshua and his family emigrated to the United States. From 1957-1989 he was a real estate developer. He leaves his wife, Aviva (Rosen) Benanav; his three sons: Gary Benanav and his wife Ruth Benanav: Jay Benanav and his wife Lucy Kanson; and Dan Benanav; his grandchildren: Michael, Tami, Steven, Jesse, David, Sam, Aaron and Ethan: and his great-grandchildren, David, Sara, and Lucas. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 10:00 am in the Chapel of the Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT. The family will sit shiva on March 28 at 20 Northmoor Road in West Hartford and on the afternoons of March 29 and March 30 at 333 East 57th Street in Manhattan. Contributions should be made to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, P.O. Box 90988 Washington, DC 20090-0988.