Recent Obituaries

Paula Kelberman, 75, passed away on May 24, 2026, from complications related to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). A long-time resident of Fort Lee, New Jersey, she had recently moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Paula was born in New York City in 1950, to George and Zelda (Metz) Kelberman. She grew up in Vineland, New Jersey and graduated from Douglass College with a bachelor’s degree in art and then completed her doctorate in education at Rutgers University. She was a Professor of Elementary Education at East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania where she was beloved by students and faculty and known for her creativity, humor, and passion for arts and elementary education. After retiring from East Stroudsburg, Paula taught at Monmouth University in New Jersey for several years. As a professor, she mentored many teachers and arts educators who are now teaching in schools in Pennsylvania and across the country.

Paula was also a therapist and trainer in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) therapy, traveling and teaching internationally. Prior to her university appointment, she was very involved in Jewish education. She was involved in the Young Judea movement and Tel Yehuda summer camp and taught religious school for many years. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, she volunteered at St. Paul’s Chapel, a place of refuge after the attack on the World Trade Center and participated in early stages of developing the 911 Memorial Museum.

Paula loved the arts, children, travel, and most of all, her family and lifelong friends. She never forgot a birthday or an anniversary. She loved to give gifts related to art, sports or just plain whimsey. She adored her brother and sister-in-law, her three nephews and their partners, her extended family, and a large network of friends and colleagues and students who are bereft at her passing and cannot imagine the world without her.

Paula is survived by her brother Ira Kelberman (Esther Chernak), and nephews Jacob Kelberman (Erin Busch), Bennett Kelberman (Megnot Toggia), and Zachary Kelberman (Elisa Sauvage Osato).

Donations in Paula’s memory can be made to the Cincinnati Book Arts Society, ALS-related charities such as ALS Hope Foundation and CCALS, or the 911 Memorial & Museum.

Herbert Morris Sinakin, MD, passed away peacefully on May 11, 2026. Dr Sinakin was born in Jersey City to the late Richard and Florence Sinakin. He graduated from Rutgers University in 1952 and received his medical degree in 1956 from SUNY Medical College, Brooklyn.

After completing his internship at Newark Beth Israel Hospital, in 1957. Dr Sinakin was resident in dermatology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center with affiliation at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York City 1957 to 1960. He was affiliated with the outpatient departments of dermatology at Christ Hospital in Jersey City and the Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.

In 1969, he married Dr. Inga Silberberg. In 1970, their son William Elias was born. He practiced dermatology in Jersey City until 1975 at which time he moved to Vineland, NJ and together with his wife Dr Inga Silberberg Sinakin he practiced dermatology until his retirement in 1997. Dr Sinakin was a lieutenant in the US Navy medical corps from 1957 to 1968.

He is survived by his wife, Inga Sinakin; his son, William E Sinakin; three nephews, Gary, Robert and Eliot. Along with his parents, he was predeceased by his sister Sylvia.

A Funeral service will be held Wednesday, May 13 at 2:00 pm from Rone Funeral Service, 1110 East Chestnut Avenue, Vineland. Interment will follow in Alliance Cemetery, Norma.

Ella Kremnitzer Kanner, of Palm Beach, Florida, the last of her family’s generation of Holocaust survivors, died peacefully at home on May 9, 2026. She was 95 years old.

Mrs. Kanner was born on November 7, 1930, in Zlochov, Poland, the daughter of Anshul and Anna Kremnitzer. Her father and his brothers were leaders of the local Jewish community. She was a young child when Germany invaded Poland and the Jews of her town were herded into a camp for deportation to the concentration camps. Her uncles were murdered immediately. Her father then set the camp on fire so that Ella, her mother, and her sisters, Berta and Dora, could escape. The family was hidden in the Polish countryside by the Vovkotrub family, Ukrainian neighbors later honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. As the front shifted, Ella’s father made the impossible decision to lead the family across Russian and German lines in hopes of being captured by the Americans. Ella spent the remainder of the war hiding in sewers, going days without food, water, or sunlight. When American soldiers finally took the family in, they feared the little girl would not survive. She did. From that moment on, she fought for life – and for joy.

She was sent to Föhrenwald, a displaced persons camp in Germany, where she met a young man from the Polish forests named Mayer Kanner. Family lore holds that he taught her to ride a bicycle there. They reunited in New York after both families emigrated to America – hers arriving by boat through New Orleans, then Omaha, before her father, speaking no English, decided to bring them east. Ella and Mayer were married on December 22, 1951, in Norma, New Jersey.

The young couple began their American life on a chicken farm in Dorothy, New Jersey, where Meyer also sold shoes at the local market to make ends meet. They later moved to Vineland, where Mayer and his brother Isaac founded Kanner Brothers Pillows. Ella raised their three children in Vineland, lit Shabbat candles every Friday night, hosted the family Passover seders and the Yom Kippur break-fast, and made her home the place where every cousin, aunt, and uncle was welcome.

Mrs. Kanner believed that after everything she had survived, her purpose was to be happy and to raise children who felt loved. She raised each of her three children to honor their distinct gifts, telling them to use their talents “for God and humanity.” In her later years she volunteered to teach students about the Holocaust, determined that what she had lived through would not be forgotten and would never be repeated.

She and Mayer eventually retired to Palm Beach, Florida, where her sense of humor about the long arc of her life never failed her. Asked once how she liked her new home, she answered, “We used to be greenies – now we are emeralds.” Asked during the Covid lockdown whether the isolation was difficult, she replied, “No. Compared to Hitler, Covid was a walk in the park.”

Ella was predeceased by her beloved husband, Mayer Kanner, in 2018; her parents, Anshul and Anna Kremnitzer; and her sisters, Berta and Dora. She is survived by her three children, Linda Kanner and her husband Richard Pine of Yardley, Pennsylvania, Steve Kanner and his wife Anne of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Allan Kanner of Telluride, Colorado; her seven grandchildren, Ally Levy Ulrich (and her husband Sam), Mia Levy Liebowitz (and her husband Gavi), Ben Levy, Ellen Kanner Loss (and her husband Dan), Andrea Kanner Ruby (and her husband Mike), Max Kanner, and Eli Kanner; her nine great-grandchildren, Ezra, Hila, and Leo Ulrich, Arianna and Joelle Liebowitz, Jacob and Aaron Loss, and Gabby and David Ruby; and many beloved nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A Funeral service will be held on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Rone Funeral Service in Vineland, New Jersey, followed by burial at Alliance Cemetery. Shiva will be observed following the burial at 566 Heritage Oak Drive, Yardley, Pennsylvania.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Ella’s memory may be made to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (ushmm.org).

May her memory be a blessing.