Obituaries

Nathan Witkin, age 87, died on Monday, April 1st.
He leaves his wife of 66 years, Muriel (Goodman) Witkin; two daughters, Shelly wife of Gerry Kashuk of Paxton and Carol Witkin of Natick; a granddaughter, Jill wife of Jason Ricardo and a great grandson, Brandon Ricardo. He was predeceased by his brother, Gerald Witkin and by his sister, Marion Epstein.
He was born in Worcester, a son of Joseph and Rebecca Stein.
With his brother Gerald Witkin, he owned and operated Kansas City Beef Co. in Framingham for 35 years, retiring 28 years ago.
He was a member of Temple Emanuel and B’Nai Brith. He was an avid golfer and fisherman.
He was an army veteran of WWII serving in the Pacific.
FUNERAL SERVICES WILL BE HELD AT 12:00 NOON ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3RD IN TEMPLE EMANUEL AT 280 MAY ST. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF RICHARD PERLMAN OF BREZNIAK RODMAN FUNERAL HOME OF NEWTON. Burial will be in Holy Society Cemetery in Leicester.
Memorial Observance will be announced at the funeral.
Memorial contributions may be made to Temple Emanuel, 280 May St., Worcester 01602 or to the charity of the donor’s choice .

ABRAMS, Judith (Kuperman) Of Mequon WI, formerly of Brookline on April 1, 2013. Beloved wife of the late Richard. Devoted mother of Jonathan and Reisa Met. Dear grandmother of Madeline and Charlie Met. Loving sister of Ann and Jimmy Slovin. Graveside services at the Boylston Lodge Cemetery, Baker St., West Roxbury on Thursday April 4, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. Memorial observance will be held at the Knollsbrook Club House until 4 p.m. and then at Ann and Jimmy Slovins residence from 7-9. Memorial observance continues at Ann and Jimmy Slovins residence Saturday 7-9 and Sunday 2-4 and 7-9. Remembrances may be made to the M.S. Society of Mass. 101A First Street Suite 6 Waltham, MA 02451.

Figler-William “Bill”, of Chestnut Hill, formerly of Hull, MA on March 29, 2013. Beloved husband of Joan (Zillman) Figler. Devoted father of Sam Figler and his wife Jodi, and Joe Figler and his wife Tricia. Dear grandfather of Sarah, Adam, and Grady Figler. Graveside services at Sharon Memorial Park on Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 10:45 am. Following interment, memorial observance will be at the home of Sam and Jodi Figler until 8 pm, and will continue Thursday and Friday, 2-4 & 6-8 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 480 Pleasant Street, Waltham, MA 02472, or Temple Beth Sholom, 600 Nantasket Ave., Hull, MA 02045.

Jordan Washor Liebhaber, 26 Y, DOB 5/22/86, of Lexington, MA. Beloved son of Gail and Ruven, brother of Aaron, and grandson of Ruth and Bernie Liebhaber, Betty and Alan Washor. Grad LHS 2004, U of Miami 2008.  He began his career path in service work to elders as a volunteer at the Tippett Hospice in Needham as a young teenager, and treasured his current job as the Assistant Administrator at Jewish Assisted Living Residence in Chelsea, MA. He loved NE sports teams, to cook, stay fit and volunteer in the Jewish community. He was committed to his family and loyal to his friends. Jordan was a joy and light to all he touched. The service will be held at Temple Emunah, Lexington on Sunday, March 31, 2013 at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, please send any donations in his name to the Tippett or the Chelsea facility. His memory is a blessing and we will miss him.

“The highest ability a performer can have is to give the constant impression that he is improvising,” the conductor and violinist Michel Sasson once told the Globe. His life and career in music reflected a kindred gift for creativity in the face of conventional expectations.

As a young boy growing up in Egypt in a family of French and Turkish descent, Mr. Sasson learned the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto by ear from an old recording by Yehudi Menuhin and then performed it with the Cairo Symphony. He was 8 years old.

Decades later, even after Mr. Sasson in 1958 won a spot in the second violin section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a post that would have sated the career ambitions of many violinists, he continued improvising. Or more precisely, he made up signs saying, “Come blow your horn with the Newton Symphony.” That organization did not yet exist, but it did soon thereafter. It gave its inaugural concert in 1965, with Mr. Sasson as its cofounder and first conductor.

Mr. Sasson, a Brookline resident, died of a stroke March 26 in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was 77.

His work in Newton caught the ear of Harry Shapiro, a contractor for the Boston Ballet, who signed up Mr. Sasson for a few performances of “The ­Nutcracker.” Before long, Mr. Sasson was ­appointed as music director of the Boston Ballet (1975-1980), which led to guest conducting dates with the American Ballet Theatre and to a post with La Scala Ballet of Milan.

Few BSO violinists have resumes that also include conducting for Mikhail Baryshnikov and orchestrating the song “Fascination” for the film “Love in the Afternoon,” starring Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn.

“He was a very talented natural violinist,” recalled Joseph Silverstein, former concertmaster of the BSO. “From the time that he arrived in Boston, he had tremendous energy, and it was obvious that the position he acquired in the BSO would not really be enough to satisfy his personal goals. He quickly moved on into conducting and demonstrated not only a very strong talent for the podium but a great organizational skill, which enabled him to develop the Newton Symphony Orchestra into such a strong presence in the community.”

From his post in Newton, Mr. Sasson was able to draw out the musical passions of the mostly amateur performers and forge them into a coherent ensemble.

“He was a charming guy, a remarkable musician, and quite a character,” recalled the conductor and former BSO violinist Max Hobart, whom Mr. Sasson invited to serve as concertmaster in Newton. “He was very demanding. If you didn’t pull your weight, he was on your case, and the amateurs in the orchestra thrived under that approach.”

At the same time, Mr. Sasson used his connections to secure appearances from soloists of inter­national caliber such as ­pianists Earl Wild and Gary Graffman, as well as from many BSO colleagues, including ­Silverstein.

Mr. Sasson received a complete musical education at the Paris Conservatory, studying with Nadia Boulanger, among others, and later at New England Conservatory, but he learned the finer points of ballet conducting on the job. These included what he once described as the primary rule, that a conductor must not accompany but rather anticipate a dancer’s motions.

“For example,” he told the Globe in 1978, “when a dancer is doing leaps the music has to come in again when they are about 6 inches off the ground; otherwise they will look heavy. Ballet is full of visual and aural effects that have to be coordinated.”

Mr. Sasson’s ballet conducting earned frequent approval in The New York Times and was praised by Globe critic Richard Dyer for its “balletic lift and rhythmic impetus.”

Mr. Sasson’s work at the Boston Ballet also proved eventful for his personal life, introducing him to his second wife, the soprano and beauty pageant winner Deborah O’Brien. Mr. Sasson, in the Globe interview, colorfully described their first meeting.

“The company was doing ‘Carmina Burana’ five years ago, and the press representative called up to say that Miss Massachusetts wanted to audition and that it would be terrific publicity if we could use her. ‘Absolutely not,’ I said. In the meantime I heard 24 sopranos, including some of the most prominent in the area, but none of them came equipped with the high D you have to have in that piece. Then one day in walks a young lady with white gloves and her mother, and she had the most beautiful free and clear high D in the world. I hired her on the spot and married her as soon as I could.”

Mr. Sasson also conducted the Boston Civic Symphony and the Brockton Symphony. He retired from the BSO in 1980. Later in his career, according to biographical information on his website, he recorded for the EMI, Claves, and Cybellia ­labels, and guest conducted more widely in Europe. In 1994, he was appointed general music director of the Istanbul State Opera.

His marriages to Doris Posner, Deborah O’Brien, Renee Evans, and Deborah Primerano ended in divorce.

A private funeral was held for Mr. Sasson, who leaves three sons, Jacques Pierre of Chestnut Hill; Theodore of Newton; and Richard of Culver City, ­Calif.; and six grandchildren.

In the 1978 Globe interview, Mr. Sasson took particular pride in the orchestra he had built up at the Boston Ballet, praising the players’ rare blend of professionalism and enthusiasm.

“Everything is one great big love affair,” he said, “and that is the way I like it.”

Robert Fishburn-of  101 Monmouth St.,  Brookline, on March 26, 2013. Beloved son of the late Joseph and Bertha (Garbelnick). Dear brother of the late Eliot Fishburn. Robert was a veteran of  both WWII and Korean wars.  He served as  a Sargeant in the military police. Robert is survived by many loyal and devoted friends. Graveside services with military honors will be held at The Adath Jeshurun Cemetery, 350 Grove St., West Roxbury, on Friday March 29 at  1:00 pm. Remembrances in his memory  may be made to  Wounded Warriors Project, PO Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675.

STARR, Enid M.

Of Brookline, died peacefully on Sunday, March 24 surrounded by her loving family. She is survived by her beloved husband Jay Agarwal, her four loving children Sandy Starr and his wife Raine Figueroa of Cambridge, Tony Starr and his wife Kathy Chazan Starr of Newton, Julie Starr-Duker and her husband Dr. Jay Duker of Newton, Dinny Starr and her husband Alan Gordon of Newton, and her fourteen grandchildren: Jake, Jason, Bear, Bradley, Sierra, Sam, Tyler, Emma, Jacquie, Elly, Clayton, Ryder, Cameron, and Piper, and her brother Jim Maslon and his wife Laura of Los Angeles. Enid was predeceased by her sister Patricia Maslon of Los Angeles. Enid was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, daughter of the late Luella and Sam Maslon. Enid earned her A.B. degree cum laude in 1951 from Radcliffe College and her certificate of completion in the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration in 1952. In 1967, she graduated cum laude from Boston College Law School. For more than forty years, Enid was a very successful and highly respected attorney at the Boston-based law firm Barron and Stadfeld where she specialized in medical malpractice, zoning, and general civil litigation. She was much loved by her grateful clients and law partners and admired by the entire legal community. She served as Senior Trial Counsel Lecturer of the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Program and on the faculty for the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Trial Advocacy Program. Enid had a long and distinguished history of community service including Chair of the Brookline Zoning Board of Appeals, Legal Counsel and Lifetime Trustee of Temple Israel in Brookline, Trustee and Executive Committee Member of the CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, Trustee of Lesley University, Trustee and Executive Committee Member of The Chestnut Hill School, Treasurer of her Radcliffe class, and a member of the Advisory Committee to the Radcliffe Institute. Enid was an original New England Patriots season ticket holder and never missed a Patriots or Harvard home football game. She loved playing bridge with Jay, attending her grandchildren’s plays and sporting events, skiing with her friends at Waterville Valley and Telluride, and traveling the world. Enid lived her life with boundless energy and was adored by her large family and many friends. She will be greatly missed. Services at Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Ave., (parking attendants on The Riverway), on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 10:30 AM. Interment at Temple Israel Cemetery, Wakefield. Family will be at her residence on Thursday from 7:00-9:30 PM, Friday from 1:00-5:00 PM, and Sunday from 1:00-5:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Friends of Yemin Orde, 12230 Wilkins Ave., Rockville, MD 20852, www.yeminorde.org, or to The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, 205 Portland Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02114,www.theschwartzcenter.org.

Natelson-Rena (Karll), of W. Palm Beach, FL, formerly of Framingham, MA, on March 24, 2013. Beloved wife of the late Joseph Natelson, and the late Charles Slipacoff. Devoted mother of Jerry Natelson and his wife Bobbie, and the late Carole Brenner. Rena is also survived by 6 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren. Loving sister of the late Hyman and Morris Karll, and the late Esther Karll Brenner. Graveside services at Sharon Memorial Park (120 Canton St., Sharon, MA), on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 11:45 am. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to a charity of your choice.

Joan Haas Einhorn, 86, loving mother, daughter, wife, and friend, died on March 25, 2013. She was the beloved wife of the late Edward Einhorn. Joan was a concert pianist, coach, teacher, and gifted musician who attended the High School of Music and Art in NYC and Queens College. She was an avid chamber musician and soloist. Joan was the Executive Director of the Wellesley College Composers Conference for 18 years and Director of the Bennington Chamber Music Conference for 3 years. She founded and participated in the Candlelight Chamber Series Concerts in NYC. Joan’s true love was her family, the opera, books, travel, sailing, and anything having to do with China. She was the loving mother of Peter and his wife Dr. Beth Abrams, Nina Motta, Cantor Roy and his wife Cantor Jodi, David, and the late Beth Einhorn and Bill Einhorn and his surviving wife Miriam Gitterman. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 3:00 pm at Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Ave., (parking attendants on the Riverway) BOSTON. In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Attn: Catherine Pfau,72 East Concord  St.-Robinson 7800,Boston, MA 02118

Levitan-Harold S., age 93, of Dedham, formerly of Sharon, died at his residence on Thursday, March 21, surrounded by his loving family. He leaves his wife of 70 years, Adeline (Kaufman) Levitan; his children Susan Taylor and husband Edgar of Chamberlain, Maine,  son David of Cambridge, MA,  son Mark and wife Gina Zizza of Carlisle, MA, son Robert and wife Shari of Sharon, MA, and  grandson Jack Taylor. Harold was a graduate of Rome (NY) Free Academy, Harvard College, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and Framingham State University. He served in the US Army during WWII as a Japanese interpreter in the Pacific Theatre. Following a career as a pharmacist, he discovered his true calling as a high school science teacher. He was a gifted teacher who inspired hundreds of Foxboro High School students with his sense of wonder about biology, chemistry and genetics. A passionate and long-suffering Red Sox fan, his love for baseball also extended to his many years of service as an umpire for Little League baseball, and high school girls’ softball and boys’ baseball. His many interests included golf, traveling, Broadway musicals and philately, but his greatest passion (aside from his wife and family) was the American Civil War. He collected a vast library of publications and memorabilia, and wrote a weekly column, “This Week in the Civil War,” for the Sharon Advocate during the Civil War centennial years. He presented slide shows and seminars on topics such as “the role of Women in the Civil War,” for many civic organizations and senior centers well into his 80’s. He was known as a kind and loving man, full of good humor and an inveterate punster, and he always had a good word for anyone seeking advice or assistance. He will be missed. Services at Temple Sinai, 25 Canton St., Sharon MA, on Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 2:00 pm. Following interment at Sharon Memorial Park, memorial observance will be at the home of Robert and Shari Levitan until 9 pm, and will continue Monday 12-3 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to  Gentiva Hospice Foundation, 7801 Mesquite Bend Drive, Suite 105, Irving, TX 75063, for the benefit of the Southboro, MA office.