Florida Senate - 2019                            (NP)    SR 1866
       
       
        
       By Senator Hooper
       
       
       
       
       
       16-04598-19                                           20191866__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution to remember the extraordinary life of
    3         Walter Loebenberg, founder of The Florida Holocaust
    4         Museum.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, Walter Loebenberg was born on May 22, 1924, in
    7  Waechtersbach, Germany, and moved with his family to Frankfurt
    8  to escape the rising tide of antisemitism in his small hometown,
    9  and
   10         WHEREAS, Walter Loebenberg was forced to leave school and
   11  went to work as an apprentice in a bakery, and he and his family
   12  were in Frankfurt on Kristallnacht—the Night of the Broken
   13  Glass—in November of 1938, and
   14         WHEREAS, Walter Loebenberg immigrated to the United States,
   15  arriving at Ellis Island on May 22, 1939, his 15th birthday, and
   16         WHEREAS, Walter Loebenberg went on to serve in the European
   17  theater during World War II and fought at the Battle of the
   18  Bulge, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower personally presented him
   19  with a Bronze Star in recognition of his service, and
   20         WHEREAS, after the war, Walter Loebenberg settled in
   21  Chicago, where he met and married his wife, Edie, and began a
   22  business career that spanned seven decades, and
   23         WHEREAS, in 1969, Walter and Edie Loebenberg, who were
   24  married for nearly 62 years, settled in St. Petersburg, where
   25  they devoted their lives to family and community, and
   26         WHEREAS, Walter Loebenberg never forgot the victims of the
   27  Holocaust and their families and, in remembrance of those lost
   28  and shattered lives, he founded The Florida Holocaust Museum in
   29  1992, which has kept alive the lessons of the past to help
   30  create a better future for all, and
   31         WHEREAS, Walter Loebenberg died peacefully at home on
   32  January 29, 2019, leaving behind three children, eight
   33  grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren and a legacy of
   34  love and compassion, NOW, THEREFORE,
   35  
   36  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   37  
   38         That the extraordinary life of Walter Loebenberg, founder
   39  of The Florida Holocaust Museum, is remembered.