Obituaries

Miriam S. Nathanson, 88, of Palm Desert, CA, formerly of Newton and Brookline died on Jan. 2, 2015. Beloved mother of Malerie and her husband, Arthur Brecher, and Rick Nathanson and his wife Sue. Cherished grandmother of Adam Brecher and his wife Trista Etzig, Lauren and David Fishman, and Abby Nathanson. Devoted great grandmother of Molly, Sam and Ethan Fishman and Abbott Brecher. Graveside service at Sharon Memorial Park on Sunday, Jan.11, 2015 at 1:45 PM. Following service memorial observance will be at the home of Malerie and Arthur until 8 PM. Expressions of sympathy may be made to the American Heart Association, 20 Speen St. Framingham, MA 01701.

Sandler-Louis B. , of Randolph, on January 8, 2015. Beloved husband of Sandra (Davis) Sandler. Devoted father of Ronald Sandler and David Sandler (Audrey). Dear grandfather of Jonathan and Steven Sandler. Services in the Sharon Memorial Park Chapel, 43 Dedham Street, Sharon, on Sunday, January 11, 2015 at 10:00 am. Memorial observance will be announced at the service. Remembrances may be made to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, PO Box 849168, Boston, MA  02284.

Muriel Joy Rolan- formerly of  Westport, CT, on January 6, 2015. Services at The Wilson Chapel, 234 Herrick Rd. , Newton Centre, on Friday, January 9, 2014 at 12:00 noon.Burial in Beit Olam East  Cemetery, Wayland.

Margil, Merna (Rosenthal) of Natick. Entered into rest on January 5,  2015. Beloved wife of the late Robert S. Margil, devoted mother of Julie Margil Salkind and her husband Richard Salkind, David Margil and his wife Jodi Freedman, and Mari Margil and her fiance Thomas Linzey. Devoted grandmother of Matthew and Rachel Margil. Beloved sister of Joel B. Rosenthal and his wife Bonnie; beloved sister-in-law of Phyllis Dank and the late Michael Dank.  Services are private.  Memorial observance at the home of Joel B. Rosenthal,  40 Liberty Street, Natick on Wednesday, January 7^th and Thursday January  8^th , from 4:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. Expressions of sympathy in her memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 480 Pleasant St., Watertown, MA 02472 or a charity of your choice.

of Brookline, formerly of Newton, age 90, on January 4, 2015.   Devoted husband of Naomi (Merker), for 64 years, loving father of Andrew Gordon and his wife Yoshie (Oyagi), Betsy Gordon and her husband Colin Alexander, and William Gordon and his partner Rachelle Abrahami, doting grandfather of Jennifer Gordon Stein and her husband Luke Stein and their daughter Mia, Megumi Gordon and her husband Michael Laverty, Melissa Gordon and Conna Kelleher.  Born and raised in Brookline, served in the US Army during World War II, wounded in Normandy in July 1944, decorated with Purple Heart.  Graduated Harvard College in 1948, worked in the shoe industry and real estate. Service will be held at Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Ave., Boston (parking on the Riverway), Tuesday, Jan 6, 2015 at 1 pm.  Burial at Adath Jeshurun Cemetery, West Roxbury. Friends and relatives invited to visit at his late residence, Brook House, 99 Pond Avenue, Brookline, Tuesday 3-6 & 7-9 pm, Wednesday 2-5 & 7-9 pm, and Thursday 7-9 pm. Donations in his memory may be made to NARAL Pro-Choice, Massachusetts, 15 Court Sq., Suite 900, Boston, MA 02108 or the Anti-Defamation League, 40 Court St., #12, Boston, MA 02108.

Helen Weisbaum – Of Brockton, formerly of Randolph on Januray 4, 2015. Beloved wife of the late Samuel. Devoted mother of Lawrence Weisbaum of Brockton and the late Philip Weisbaum and Ethel Beberman. Dear grandmother of David and Robin Beberman, Joshua Weisbaum, David Murch and the late Arthur Murch. Great grandmother of Joseph and Sarah Beberman. Loving sister of David Freedman and the late Carl Freedman, Rivka Davidovicz and Sally Rotman. Graveside services at the Pultusker Cemetery, 776 Baker St, West Roxbury on Tuesday Jan. 6th at 11 AM. Memorial observance will be omitted. Remembrances may be made to a charity of your choice

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of Natick, formerly of Portland, ME, Quincy, Palm Beach, FL, and Boynton Beach, FL, on January 4, 2015. Late founder of Tags Furniture Stores. Adored husband of 65 years to Helen (Bernstein) Cook. Devoted father of Marcia E. Cantor and her husband Barry of Ottawa, Canada, Laurie A. Slosberg of Chestnut Hill, and Susan C. Ross and her husband Jonathan of Natick. Cherished grandfather of Rebecca, Jeremy, David, Alex, Noah, Stefanie, and Benjamin. Loving brother of Molly Cinnamon of Portland, ME and the late George A. Cook, Sylvia Weber, and Melvin Schwartz. Services in the Sharon Memorial Park Chapel, 43 Dedham St., Sharon, on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at 12:00 Noon. Memorial observance will be held in the Nouvelle Club Room, 10 Nouvelle Way, Natick – South Tower, 6^th Floor, on Tuesday from 3-5 & 7-9 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, 85 Astor Ave., #2, Norwood, MA 02062.

Siegfried  Ansbacher -of Wayland, formerly of Glen Rock, NJ, on January 2, 2015.Beloved husband of the late Betty (Bauman) Ansbacher. Devoted father of Shirl Blank. Cherished grandfather of Jody Blank, Jeremy Blank, and Andrew Blank and his wife Annie. Loving great grandfather of Marissa and Devin. Graveside service at Beit Olam East Cemetery, 42 Concord Rd., Wayland, on Sunday, January 4, 2015 at 11:00 am. Following services, memorial observance will be at  his residence until 4:00 pm, and will continue Monday and Tuesday 5-8 pm. In lieu of flowers remembrances may be made to Hadassah New England,  200 Reservoir St., Suite 103, Needham, MA 02494.

loving wife of nearly 65 years of the late Benjamin Rudin, passed away peacefully at age 100 on January 2, 2015 in Beverly, MA. Rose is survived by her two sons, Stanley of Osprey, FL and Mark and his wife Anita of Danvers, MA, six grandchildren: Michael (Anne), Richard (Jeanne), Howard (Suzanne), Stacey (Andy Cessarini), Joshua (Gina), and Seth, seven great-grandchildren: Jamie, Sarah, Sam, Rachael, Toni Rose (Cessarini), Max, and Jaden, and her dear friend Lynda McCain. Funeral service will be held on Sunday, January 4, 2015 at 12:00 noon in the Sharon Memorial Park Chapel. Burial will be followed by shiva at the Olde Salem Village Condominium Club House, 43 Village Post Rd., Danvers, MA. Shiva will continue at the home of Mark and Anita Rudin Monday through Thursday, 1-4 & 6-9 pm and Friday 1-4 pm. Donations in Rose’s memory may be made to Temple Ner Tamid, 368 Lowell St., Peabody, MA 01960 or Care Dimensions Hospice, 75 Sylvan St., Suite B, Danvers, MA 01923.

of Newton, on December 26, 2014, Poet and Professor. Beloved husband of Anna Baranczak. Devoted father of Michael Baranczak and Anna Janina Baranczak. Dear brother of Malgorzata Musierowicz. Services in the Story Chapel at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge, on Saturday, January 3, 2015 at 11:30 am. Donations in his memory may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, PO Box 4777, New York, NY 10163-4777.

Polish Poet, Translator Stanislaw Baranczak Dies
WARSAW, Poland — Dec 27, 2014, 10:19 AM ET
By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press
Associated Press
Poland’s outstanding poet, translator and dissident and a former Harvard lecturer Stanislaw Baranczak has died at his U.S. home, Poland’s leading daily Gazeta Wyborcza said. He was 68.

Since the 1990s, Baranczak suffered from Parkinson’s disease, which made him quit his Harvard job in 1997 after 16 years there. He died in Newtonville near Boston early Friday, the newspaper said.

Poland’s Culture Minister Malgorzata Omilanowska said that Baranczak’s death is a “great loss to Poland’s culture.”

“He paid a great price for his views, for his unwavering attitude,” Omilanowska said. “He dedicated his whole life to literature, to poetry. His work will always be an important part of Poland’s culture.”

His poems written in Poland in the 1960s and ’70s ridiculed the absurdity of the communist system and its artificial language. He co-founded the Workers’ Defense Committee (KOR) in 1977, following a brutal communist crackdown on protesting workers. For his activity he was fired from his job at the Adam Mickiewicz University in his native Poznan and his writings were barred from print in Poland.

In 1981 he got a three-year contract as lecturer at Harvard but stayed on, as Poland’s communists imposed martial law against the Solidarity freedom movement that year.

He translated many authors from Polish to English and from English to Polish, including works by Shakespeare, John Donne, Emily Dickinson and Bob Dylan. He also translated from Russian and from Lithuanian. He had the rare talent of preserving the spirit and the beauty of the language of the original.

In 1996 Baranczak shared the U.S. PEN Translation Prize with American Clare Cavanagh for putting into English a collection by Poland’s Nobel Prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska.

Baranczak is survived by his wife Anna, a Harvard preceptor in Slavic languages and literatures.