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November 5, 1999/26 Cheshvan 5760, Vol. 52, No.10
Jewish couples among air crash victims
DEBRA N. COHEN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - At least three Jewish couples were among the 217 EgyptAir passengers and crew members whose lives ended in the cold waters of the Atlantic when their plane crashed east of Massachusetts on Oct. 31.
Among the couples embarking on vacation were two couples who were long-time friends from the Detroit suburbs. Norman and Joan Shapiro had been the closest of friends with Larry and Edith Kowalsky for more than 50 years. They were on board the fateful EgyptAir flight as the foursome headed for what they had hoped would be a one-day stop in Cairo and a two-week photography safari in Kenya.
The husbands met soon after both graduated from pharmacy school in the early 1950s, according to the New York Times. They joined the same professional organization and each had a pharmacy in neighboring Detroit suburbs.
As beloved long-time members of their synagogue, Norman Shapiro, 70, and his brother, Bernard, had for many years shared the honor of taking the Torah scrolls from the ark during Kol Nidre services at Congregation B'nai David. The Shapiros had been members of B'nai David, an independent, traditional synagogue for more than 30 years, Ben-Zion Lanxner, who serves as both rabbi and cantor, said in a phone interview.
Joan Shapiro, 64, had volunteered as the librarian at B'nai David and had authored romance novels, two of which had been published, Lanxner said.
In addition to Norman Shapiro's brother, they are survived by his parents, who are both in their 90s, two sons and a daughter. A service for the Shapiros was slated Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 3, at a local funeral home.
A memorial service for the Kowalskys was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 2, at their synagogue, Congregation B'nai Moshe, in West Bloomfield. Larry Kowalsky, 74, and his wife, Edith, 68, are survived by four sons and six grandchildren.
Another Jewish couple on EgyptAir's deadly crash was Natalie and Martin Greenberg, of Ridgefield, Conn. It was to be the first trip to Egypt for the Greenbergs, who were planning to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next May by renewing their vows.
Also killed in the EgyptAir crash was a fund-raiser for an Israeli university. Sheila Jaffee, 53, of Huntington Beach, Calif., raised money for Hebrew University. She was one of four members of a club who had been planning a trip to Egypt and Israel for nearly a year.
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