Esther Benrubi

1922 - 2021

Esther Rostker Benrubi
Nov. 20, 1922 - June 27, 2021
Esther Benrubi, beloved wife of the late Captain Lazar Benrubi, has died in Moraga, California at the age of 98. She leaves her children Gioia (Willard) Stark, Charles (Madilyn) Benrubi, Deborah Benrubi, Gabriel (Kinë) Benrubi, and Robert (Karen) Benrubi; her grandchildren Jennifer and Brian Stark, Rebecca, Matthew, and Isabella Benrubi, and Kajsalena Seagrave; and great-grandson Julian Machulsky-Benrubi.
Mom was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin to Anna and Moishe Rostker, Jewish immigrants from Rozan, Poland. The youngest of five children, she loved school and her extended family and friends. She worked as a Red Cross volunteer during World War II and married a young U.S. Navy officer, beginning a long, fascinating, demanding life as a Navy wife and devoted mother. Together they travelled around the world, including tours of duty in Japan and Taiwan, and up and down both U.S. coasts, settling in Southern California. Mom moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2013.
Mom was smart, curious, and very funny. She loved coffee, Spanish guitar music, the color blue, reading the daily newspaper and doing the Jumble, and beautiful shoes. She was a wicked Scrabble player, unmatched by any of us. She loved to laugh and to make others laugh. We miss her so much and always will.
Mom will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, joining our father there, who died in 1993. Memorial donations may be made to HIAS at www.hias.org (or mail to HIAS, P.O. Box 97077, Washington, DC 20090-7077).
We are profoundly grateful to the staff of Hospice East Bay and to Ana Blaj and the staff of Moraga Retreat, who attended to our mother with wonderful, loving care in her last years.