Comments on: Memories of Seymour Fromer, Magnes Founder http://blog.magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842 opensource is a project of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:11:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: judy musante http://blog.magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842&cpage=1#comment-483 judy musante Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:45:37 +0000 http://magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842#comment-483 I was a visitor to the Museum from time to time. sometimes i walked, sometimes i biked there..he greeted me like a cherished friend. once when he saw me overwhelmed by a holocaust exhbiit and all the horrible losses, he comforted me telling me that Judaism remains alive. He always asked me about my family and my interests. He was a great mentor, and a kind and wonderful mensh. I perceive him as a lamid vovnik, a tsadik who inspired the good in us. I was a visitor to the Museum from time to time. sometimes i walked, sometimes i biked there..he greeted me like a cherished friend. once when he saw me overwhelmed by a holocaust exhbiit and all the horrible losses, he comforted me telling me that Judaism remains alive. He always asked me about my family and my interests. He was a great mentor, and a kind and wonderful mensh. I perceive him as a lamid vovnik, a tsadik who inspired the good in us.

]]> By: jessica kaz-hoffman http://blog.magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842&cpage=1#comment-470 jessica kaz-hoffman Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:57:02 +0000 http://magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842#comment-470 I first met Seymour at a CAJM conference in Chicago in 1989. I was just exploring jewish museum work as a possible profession and he encouraged me to jump in and to come intern at the magnes museum. Little did I know what mazel I had that day. I did follow him to the Magnes and was blessed to have worked with him, Ruth Eiss, Marney Welch and many others on staff at the Magnes. I was just 22 years old and far from home and they all welcomed me with open arms into the heart and soul of the Magnes, in the garden, int eh exhibits and into the community. He was generous, funny, brilliant and a trailblazer in the Jewish museum world. Thanks to Seymour I have worked for over 20 years in the field of Jewish museums. He was a super mensch and he will be missed by all who were blessed to spend time with him. Jessica Kaz-Hoffman Arts and Education Consultant Chicago I first met Seymour at a CAJM conference in Chicago in 1989. I was just exploring jewish museum work as a possible profession and he encouraged me to jump in and to come intern at the magnes museum. Little did I know what mazel I had that day. I did follow him to the Magnes and was blessed to have worked with him, Ruth Eiss, Marney Welch and many others on staff at the Magnes. I was just 22 years old and far from home and they all welcomed me with open arms into the heart and soul of the Magnes, in the garden, int eh exhibits and into the community. He was generous, funny, brilliant and a trailblazer in the Jewish museum world. Thanks to Seymour I have worked for over 20 years in the field of Jewish museums. He was a super mensch and he will be missed by all who were blessed to spend time with him.

Jessica Kaz-Hoffman
Arts and Education Consultant
Chicago

]]> By: Bart Gershbein http://blog.magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842&cpage=1#comment-466 Bart Gershbein Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:01:49 +0000 http://magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842#comment-466 Seymour Frommer was a warm, thoughtful,sincere dedicated educator who spent his life doing what he loved. He enjoyed,reveled in the richness of the Jewish culture and history. He is part of that history. The last time I saw Seymour was a few years back at an auction house with thousands of lots. He wanted to know if I saw the antique Hanukkah piece (which I totally missed). He described it and gave a short probable history. I knew Seymour well enough to say hello and remind him of my name. He was always gracious and welcoming. He reminded me of my NYC roots. He will be missed and remembered for his warmth and dedication to our past to preserve it for our future. Seymour Frommer was a warm, thoughtful,sincere dedicated educator who spent his life doing what he loved. He enjoyed,reveled in the richness of the Jewish culture and history. He is part of that history.
The last time I saw Seymour was a few years back at an auction house with thousands of lots. He wanted to know if I saw the antique Hanukkah piece (which I totally missed). He described it and gave a short probable history. I knew Seymour well enough to say hello and remind him of my name. He was always gracious and welcoming. He reminded me of my NYC roots. He will be missed and remembered for his warmth and dedication to our past to preserve it for our future.

]]> By: Raphael Shevelev http://blog.magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842&cpage=1#comment-462 Raphael Shevelev Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:04:28 +0000 http://magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842#comment-462 Seymour Fromer, whose benign fingerprints were on every major Jewish institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, died on Monday. At the time of his funeral, I was having major surgery, and couldn’t attend. I once thought of Seymour as the wise, tolerant, supportive father I would have liked, and I shall miss him. Of my many rich memories there was one in particular that I treasure. One day when I was working in the library of the museum, a young Chinese exchange student at Berkeley came to the museum because of his curiosity about these people called the Jews. Dropping all his other concerns, Seymour escorted this young man around the museum and treated him with so much kindness and so much respect that I’m sure that the effect on that student was a mirror of what I experienced as an observer. Just days before his death, Seymour called me to thank me for a handmade Jewish New Year’s card which I had sent to him and Rebecca, and he began the conversation with a number of questions about my health. It’s only when I turned that inquiry around to ask about his health that I found out that he was under hospice care and that Rebecca was then at a rehabilitation center after a fall. When I tried to commiserate with him about the decline of our physical bodies, he said “But it’s important for our spirits to soar!” There are many memories of his kindnesses to me, especially around the publication of my book “Liberating the Ghosts” and the subsequent exhibition at the museum. But I still think that the episode with the Chinese exchange student said more about Seymour’s respect for humankind than anything else I can remember. On January 20, 2008, I photographed Seymour in the grounds of the Magnes Museum. It was during an intense conversation, and the setting reminded me of what an enormous contribution Seymour had made to our cultural lives. I added something to the photograph that wasn’t there: I gave him a “lapel pin” fashioned from the stylized “M” on the front gate of the museum. To me it represented a medal for exceptional service. Raphael ---------------------------------------------- Raphael Shevelev Website: http://www.raphaelshevelev.com Seymour Fromer, whose benign fingerprints were on every major Jewish institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, died on Monday. At the time of his funeral, I was having major surgery, and couldn’t attend. I once thought of Seymour as the wise, tolerant, supportive father I would have liked, and I shall miss him.

Of my many rich memories there was one in particular that I treasure. One day when I was working in the library of the museum, a young Chinese exchange student at Berkeley came to the museum because of his curiosity about these people called the Jews. Dropping all his other concerns, Seymour escorted this young man around the museum and treated him with so much kindness and so much respect that I’m sure that the effect on that student was a mirror of what I experienced as an observer.

Just days before his death, Seymour called me to thank me for a handmade Jewish New Year’s card which I had sent to him and Rebecca, and he began the conversation with a number of questions about my health. It’s only when I turned that inquiry around to ask about his health that I found out that he was under hospice care and that Rebecca was then at a rehabilitation center after a fall. When I tried to commiserate with him about the decline of our physical bodies, he said “But it’s important for our spirits to soar!” There are many memories of his kindnesses to me, especially around the publication of my book “Liberating the Ghosts” and the subsequent exhibition at the museum. But I still think that the episode with the Chinese exchange student said more about Seymour’s respect for humankind than anything else I can remember.

On January 20, 2008, I photographed Seymour in the grounds of the Magnes Museum. It was during an intense conversation, and the setting reminded me of what an enormous contribution Seymour had made to our cultural lives. I added something to the photograph that wasn’t there: I gave him a “lapel pin” fashioned from the stylized “M” on the front gate of the museum. To me it represented a medal for exceptional service.

Raphael

———————————————-
Raphael Shevelev
Website: http://www.raphaelshevelev.com

]]> By: Jeff Rosenberg http://blog.magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842&cpage=1#comment-459 Jeff Rosenberg Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:30:16 +0000 http://magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842#comment-459 I was a docent in the early '90's and have wonderful memories of the kindness and generous spirit that Seymour showered on all us volunteers. He was a true mench and will be sadly missed. I was a docent in the early ’90′s and have wonderful memories of the kindness and generous spirit that Seymour showered on all us volunteers. He was a true mench and will be sadly missed.

]]> By: James G. Leventhal http://blog.magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842&cpage=1#comment-453 James G. Leventhal Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:01:07 +0000 http://magnes.org/opensourceblog/?p=842#comment-453 To the Fromer family, to the Magnes Museum family and to the Rischins, It was with enormous anticipation that I was looking forward to visiting our friends of so many years this past October. The visit, in preparation for many months, meant renewing ties that went back forty years or more. We took it for granted that Seymour would once more play a prominent part in making the undertaking possible as he has in the past. We all remember that marvelous conference on Judah Magnes' legacy when he and Moses brought together such a stellar group of scholars. It was always a joy on visiting the Bay Area to spend time at the museum under Seymour's tutelage getting a rundown on the new acquisitions and talking shop. I personally owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Seymour for making the publication of "Dissenter in Zion" possible. Without his devotion to the project it just would not have been. Then there was the flow of information about Magnes memorabilia and archival materials which we both enjoyed. The worrisome news concerning Seymour's health which Moses and James passed on to us last August that Seymour was critically ill was most distressing and now the very sad new that he has passed away leaves us bereft of a great figure in the cultural life of American Jews. May his memory be a blessing. Arthur Goren Tel Aviv, Israel To the Fromer family, to the Magnes Museum family and to the Rischins,

It was with enormous anticipation that I was looking forward to visiting our friends of so many years this past October. The visit, in preparation for many months, meant renewing ties that went back forty years or more. We took it for granted that Seymour would once more play a prominent part in making the undertaking possible as he has in the past. We all remember that marvelous conference on Judah Magnes’ legacy when he and Moses brought together such a stellar group of scholars. It was always a joy on visiting the Bay Area to spend time at the museum under Seymour’s tutelage getting a rundown on the new acquisitions and talking shop.

I personally owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Seymour for making the publication of “Dissenter in Zion” possible. Without his devotion to the project it just would not have been. Then there was the flow of information about Magnes memorabilia and archival materials which we both enjoyed.

The worrisome news concerning Seymour’s health which Moses and James passed on to us last August that Seymour was critically ill was most distressing and now the very sad new that he has passed away leaves us bereft of a great figure in the cultural life of American Jews. May his memory be a blessing.

Arthur Goren
Tel Aviv, Israel

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