Obituary
Bernie “Boona” Alpert was a loving family man, entrepreneur, archaeologist, activist and adventurer. Born in 1932 in Albany Park, Chicago, his parents, Minnie and Abe Alpert were a homemaker and truck driver. He and his wife of 64 years, Fran, had 4 children and, later, 7 grandchildren. They moved from Skokie IL, to the wilds of Riverwoods then to Highland Park, where they immersed themselves in the community of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El and remained members for 60 years. Bernie’s passion for Judaism became a cornerstone of his life and he always found new ways to express this; from working for Jewish education through Solomon Schechter and Chicago Jewish Day Schools, to writing the Conservative Movement’s guidelines for funerals, to blowing the shofar for the sick at Highland Park Hospital. If that wasn’t enough, he set out on adventures that parallel these interests; spending 6 months in Israel in the aftermath of the 6 Day War; being detained by the KGB in 1972 for smuggling religious objects to the Soviet Union’s Jewish community; traveling to Ethiopia in 1975 and becoming an early advocate for the Jewish community there; and volunteering for American Jewish World Service twice, for six months in India and Uganda, assisting local grassroots organizations. Bernie's lifelong entrepreneurial journey was colorful and varied; first selling carbon copy paper (very useful to this day); marketing furniture through Playboy Magazine; running Toy-of-the-Month Club; and forming a long partnership as a manufacturer’s rep in Alpert-Carter & Associates. In 1979, he and Fran moved to Israel, where Bernie reinvented himself again, founding Archeological Seminars, which brought tens of thousands of tourists to archeological digs to discover the deep history of Israel. In order to oversee the dig sites where he worked with passion well into his eighties, he went back to school to earn a Master's Degree in Archeology at Oxford University. He and Fran traveled the world with a gusto, mostly with small suitcases and little planning, reaching literally all four corners of the earth. In his later years, they returned to the US to be close to family and build his relationships with his grandchildren, who he adored, and split time between Naples, FL and Highland Park. He will be missed. Bernard “Bernie” Alpert, 88 (Boona to his grandchildren). Beloved husband of Frances nee Schramm. Loving father of Iris (Gerald Selvin) Alpert, Abby (Michael Deeter) Alpert, Danny (Andrea) Alpert and Chava (Michael Bloom) Alpert and the late Joshua David. Proud grandfather of Noah, Rachel, Sarah, Talia, Matan, Anina and Ethan. Dear brother of the late Seymour (Ruth Landsberg) Alpert, brother-in-law to Shoshana Friedman and the late Phyllis Schramm, uncle to Howard Alpert, Cheryl Wasserman, Ari Kaz (Carrie) and Jessica Kaz and great uncle to Melissa, Max and Sam Wasserman, Dori, Meital, Asher and Gili Hoffman and Rivi Kaz. Service Sunday 2PM at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, 1175 Sheridan Road, Highland Park, IL 60035. Interment Memorial Park. Memorials to Chicago Jewish Day School, 3730 North California Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60618, www.chicagojewishdayschool.org or American Jewish World Service, 45 West 36th Street, New York, New York 10018 www.ajws.org would be appreciated. To attend the funeral live stream, please visit our website. Arrangements by: Chicago Jewish Funerals-Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com
Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals. www.chicagojewishfunerals.com