Sidney B. Kurtz (Sid, Rusty, Grandpa, Dad) passed away from AML (acute) Leukemia on April 28th, 2006, with close family by his side. Brother of the late Edith (nee Kurtz) Brook. Husband of the late Sylvia (nee Brooks) Kurtz, father of Stephen (Karen) Kurtz, Scott (Pamela) Kurtz, and Stan (Michelle) Kurtz, Grandfather of Brian, Hillary, Joshua, Ethan, Benjamin and Jenna. Loving partner of Sylvia Doby. |
Sid was born October 12, 1924 in Philadelphia, son of Nathan and Rachael. His family had immigrated to the United States from Latvia through Liverpool on November 11, 1912 on a ship named SS Dominion. |
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His father Nathan became a barber and one of the first people to invent methods of “regrowing” hair. Nathan was also said to be a part-time numbers runner and Sid enjoyed telling the story of when he as a child hid a bag of numbers thrown into the front yard and how unraveled the family became over it. Sid remembered his father Nathan as an inventive man, but not an exceptionally warm father. The one time that Sid remembers his father hugging him was as a young man coming back from the Merchant Mariners. |
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Around 1938, Sid was stricken with polio, a disease that killed many that year and left Sid in the hospital for months. He learned how to walk again the following year, but was plagued with one weaker, shorter leg the rest of life. Polio was the first of many interruptions to his dreams of being a professional baseball player and later a writer.
Knowing that Sid could not stand for long periods of time, his mother guided him into the watch making trade, which was primarily done sitting at a bench. Sid would end up staying in watch making, and later retail jewelry sales, the remainder of his career. |
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When World War II broke out, Sid tried enlisting in the Army, but was rejected on the basis of his bad leg. Without wavering, Sid joined the Merchant Mariners where he served until the war came to an end. |
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After his wartime service, Sid came home to an ice cream shop where he had met Sylvia, a kind woman who often gave him free treats. They fell in love and shortly after began a married life together. It took 12 years, but then with a watchmakers timing two boys were born on July 4th, exactly one year apart, and possibly not so coincidently, nine months after Sid’s birthday. |
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With the responsibilities of marriage and then children, Sid dedicated himself to his work in retail sales to provide for growing family. |
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Around 1965, Sid began having difficultly digesting food, and was later diagnosed with Crohn’s, a debilitating immune system disorder that attacks the intestines. Sid was not the type of person to complain about anything, let alone his illness. His oldest grandson recently said that he never knew his grandpa had any health issues. |
In 1967, Sid was diagnosed with a different systemic challenge, another hurdle to keep him from his dreams, his third son. Sid wasn’t ready for another child, but begrudgingly continued on his work in retail to support his seemingly endlessly growing family.
The Kurtz family never had an excess of money, but that didn’t stop them from purchasing a small camper and locally vacationing at sites near their home in New Jersey. Sid also enjoyed taking his family to the shore, one of his favorite places. As the boys grew up, he also took them skating and skiing.
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Sid’s oldest son Steve remembers watching movies with his head in Sid's lap while Sid scratched Steve’s back. Steve remembers magically waking up in his bed the next morning wondering how the movie ended.
Sid’s second son Scott remembers learning so much from how Sid lived his life and how Sid stressed education as an important part of living. |
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Sid developed a love for photography. He never had any formal training; it was just something he became passionate about. At almost every family event, he would take out his slide projector and some carousels of photos and showed the family his snap shots for hours at a time, whether they liked it or not. During the last years of his life, his slides were shown prior to feature movies at the Ritz Theater.
Click this link to see a 10 minute set of Sid's slides, narrated by Sid. (MAC Version) |
The Kurtz family house was often the meeting place for family events. As time past, there were a set of years that Siddidn't completely enjoy being around people. Being seperated from his dreams for so long may have been taking its toll. At times he would have rather just sat quietly and read in the den.
Sid wasn’t a quick eater. Maybe it was how he was raised, or maybe it had to do with his Crohn’s. The family often ate together, but were long gone by the time he finished his meal. Sid often stayed up late and read into the night. He either ate Tasty Cakes or baked and ate a chocolate cake while he read. He creatively used a metal knife as his cake cutter and also his line reading guide.
In 1983, Sid’s wife Sylvia succumbed to lung cancer after several years of fighting. Sid had two boys in college and one active teenager at home. Sid and his youngest couldn’t have been more different except neither of them knew how to grieve very well.
In 1984, not being able to fit into the traditional educational system of the time, Sid’s youngest son Stan was in the midst of leaving High School after his sophomore year. It was then when Sid responded in a way that Stan saw for the first time. Sid said to the school’s representative, “He’s a smart boy. You didn't reach him. It’s your fault.” Sid and Stan were very close from that day forward.
As years continued, Sid worked himself out of his somewhat less social tendencies and spent quality family time with the Fisher's, the Brook's, with Estelle (his daugher-in-law's mother) and other extended family. He often enjoyed telling stories, or playing cards, scrabble, or other board games with them until the middle of the night. If that got too boring, he would, of course, wip out his slide projector. |
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In 1995, Sid’s family threw him a 70th birthday roast, and Sid wanted to make a family tree to pass down to the generations. Sid started researching and interviewing the family and was taken by everyone’s story. He began to write what he called “Rusty, a short story” which turned out to be about 100 pages of information. Sid then went back to the library and continued his research. He later published his first book, “The Jewish Rectangle – A family adventure.” |
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| Sid then went on to publish, “Alice – Broken Windows, Broken Dreams” a story about a woman who escaped the concentration camps of Natzi Germany. “Marcel Singer – The Gentle Butcher of Hongkew,” a story of one family’s World War II escape from Austria to China, and “White Man’s War” a fictional account of Solomon Mobuto's life, a shipmate from Sid’s Merchant Marine days. |
Sid loved to write about real people who became triumphant in the face of adversity, a theme that turned out to closely mirror the theme of his life.
In 1996, Sid’s sister Edie introduced him to Sylvia Doby at a seniors brunch at the Jewish Community Center. They became friends and soon after, loving partners. Sylvia became an intrical part of Sid’s life and to the Kurtz family. She was described as the binding of Sid’s books, a major supporter, and his biggest fan.
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Sid's Sister Edith (Edie) |
Sid and Sylvia |
Sid and Sylvia |
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| In his last years, Sid wrote in the Op Ed section as a regular contributor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He published articles on a monthly basis from 1999 to 2006. In emails to the family Harold Jackson the Deputy Editorial Page Editor wrote, “…Sid was a great man…,” His most recent editor Porus Cooper wrote,“…an inspiration to many of us…" and Jodi Chester, one of his first editors wrote, “He was one of my most prolific writers…” |
Sid loved his grandchildren and was always closely involved whether it was becoming a magician and script writer for Brian, or following Josh’s acting and Hillary’s dancing. He also loved to visit with Benjamin and sneak as many hugs as he could. When he was able he would visit Ethan and Jenna in California or they would come visit with him. Nothing lit up Sid’s face like being with his family, especially his grandchildren. He learned to break through the generation gap by finding common ground of similar interests and humor. |
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| Sid also had a way of making each family member feel equally important. He could never just talk about how proud he was of one son without including the other two shortly after. He also had a close personal relationship with his three daughter-in-laws. What he didn't have financially, he certainly had in terms of the quality and richness of his family and they all cherished him. |
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Sid's son's Steve and Karen's wedding |
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Sid's son's Scott and Pamela's wedding |
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Sid's son's Stan and Michelle's wedding |
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Marilyn and the Fishers |
Dot, Mike, and Howard Brooks |
Saul, Stan, Sid, Jenna, Michelle, Ethan |
Sylvia, and many of Sid’s close family were with him in his last days, and his last breaths. Sid passed peacefully at 6:30pm on April 28th, 2006 at 81 years old.
On the surface, Sid was a kind, positive gentleman who lived meagerly and was always concerned about others. When you looked a little closer, you found that his life of overcoming adversity to achieve his dreams is a poinent example of the best parts of the human spirit.
Sid was loved my many and will be dearly missed.
To leave comments to the family about Sid or this memorial page click here.
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Sid's Articles and Books |Sid's Memorial Video (MAC Version) |Memorial Service Audio (MAC) |Slides (MAC) |
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