Harold Eisner

Harold Eisner was born on January 15, 1927, and died on April 14, 2022. Ninety-five years. How can you define a life, a person? As it turns out, if the person is guided by kindness, decency, integrity, and love, that is a full and beautiful life. A life to celebrate.

Harold was born in the Bronx to parents who immigrated from what is now Belarus. He had two sisters. He met Sylvia Zimmerman when he was seventeen where they were both working at a raincoat factory. They married when he was eighteen, and they remained dedicated to one another (often seen holding hands as they walked together). They recently celebrated their seventy-seventh anniversary.

He served in the Coast Guard during World War II. He worked on troop transport ships, often escorted by destroyers. They were responsible for transporting troops to Europe and beyond. He was proud of his service, and he was honored to wear his hat showing that he was a World War II veteran.

Harold and Sylvia began their life together in Brooklyn, New York. They moved several times as his job as a sewing machine mechanic and plant manager (principally in curtain and drapery factories) took him to a number of states, including California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Whenever they moved, they immediately joined the Conservative synagogue and became active in the community where they volunteered and made life-long friends quickly. The Jewish communities were small, and in one place, they had to order their kosher meat from Chicago; it arrived in dry ice aboard a Greyhound bus. Despite the antisemitism that they experienced in some places, they remained true to their roots.

They moved to Sunrise, Florida in 1994. They became entrenched in their new location, and they made many friends in their retirement community. They both sought to continue to make a difference. So, after fifty years of work in factories, he still wanted to work. (He began working when he was eleven and, as a caddy, he carried two golf bags at a time on weekends.) He began a new career at age seventy.

Harold served as a crossing guard under the auspices of the Sunrise Police Department. He was soon transferred to perform many different jobs in the police department. He answered phones, took complaints, obtained fingerprints, and guided visitors to the proper person. He loved performing a service for the community, and he respected and loved the people with whom he worked. And they loved him for his enthusiasm, commitment, and friendship. He remained with the police department until he was ninety-four, and he treasured the plaque he received for his more than twenty-three years of service.

Harold loved to bowl, and he and Sylvia joined leagues in Sunrise, and both won trophies. Also once in Sunrise, he learned how to play golf. Additionally, Harold and Sylvia enjoyed traveling together to various places throughout the country and for senior summer school where they took classes and toured interesting places.

The most important thing to him was his family. He loved them deeply and unconditionally. Harold and Sylvia had three daughters, the oldest of whom unfortunately predeceased him by a month. He leaves behind his other daughters, three sons-in-law, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He will also be missed by his many nieces and nephews.