MORRIS SARNA

SARNA--Morris, Holocaust survivor, died on January 17, 2025 at the age of 97. Known to his adoring family by his Yiddish name, Moishe, he was born on April 20, 1927 in Dzialoszyce, Poland to Avram and Sheindele Sarna. Barely 13 years old at the outbreak of World War II, he was imprisoned in a series of Nazi concentration camps, along with his three elder brothers. His parents and his two youngest brothers were murdered at the Belzec extermination camp. Following his liberation in January 1945, Morris and his surviving brothers lived for several years in an American displaced persons' camp in Degendorf, Germany, before securing visas to the United States. The family first lived in Rochester and Brooklyn, New York, but ultimately settled in New Jersey and Manhattan. Morris, along with brothers Joe and Jack, founded Sarna Enterprises, a successful real estate development firm in Englewood, NJ, where he continued to work well into his 90s. In 1983, he married Judith Ann Eigen, his partner in love and adventure for over 40 years, who cared for him selflessly until the end. In addition to his beloved wife, he leaves behind his niece, Shirley (Steven), nephew, Mark (Anita), nephew, Jonathan Eigen (Anna), sister-in-law, Ramona Eigen (Lewis z'l), six great-nieces and nephews, eight great-great-nieces and nephews, and generations of grateful godchildren, to whom he was devoted. Uproariously funny, irreverent, fiercely loyal, and unapologetically himself, Morris will be dearly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him. In lieu of flowers, the Sarna-Eigen family requests that donations be made to The Morris and Judy Sarna Fund for Breaking Bias and Creating Community at the University of Connecticut's Neag School of Education.