5 Important Jews Who Died in 2021

Larry King on his CNN show

What end of the year series of lists would be complete without remembering the people who died? Too many important Jews were lost in 2021 for us to list all of them here. We settled on only 5 because we know that people just don’t read things online that are too long.

So here is our list in random order. Please hold your applause until the end so as not to let people know who people liked more.

Larry King
Back in January, news legend Larry King has died at the age of 87. No official cause of death has yet to be revealed; although, King was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles last month due to complications from the Coronavirus and that is where he passed away.

Born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in Brooklyn, New York, the legend went by his on-air name Larry King for the last 60 plus years of his life. But he never tried to hide his Jewish heritage, nor could he have done so.
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From the King family: We’re so excited about this new short documentary about Larry’s life-long friendship with negotiator Herb Cohen, (Herbie) from Bensonhurst. Watch the trailer and learn more at https://t.co/7i5gzUITfD. We love you Herbie! ❤️ Shawn, Chance, and Cannon King

— Larry King (@kingsthings) October 1, 2021

King could interview anybody and everybody. His guests from Presidents to royalty, Oscar winners to business icons, always new that they would get a fair shake from Larry King. This was part of his appeal. If you wanted confrontation and hostility you could watch Jerry Springer or Judge Judy. If you just wanted to see someone talk about themselves in a serious but respectful way then you tuned into Larry King on CNN.

George Segal
George Segal was truly one of the greats. His acting career spanned more than six decades. Sadly, he died in March in Santa Rosa, California, from what was described as complications following heart bypass surgery. He was 87.

Segal was survived by his wife of 25 years Sonia Segal and two children. Sonia Segal released a statement saying, “The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery.”

The movie database website IMDB lists 127 different credits for George Segal in both movies and television. His breakout came in 1966 with the movie “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” The role earned Segal his only Oscar nomination.

George Segal The Goldbergs

To recent audiences George Segal is probably best known as the lovable grandfather Albert ‘Pops’ Solomon on the hit TV sitcom “The Goldbergs.” The show is set in the 1980s and Segal played the grandfather of the real life Adam Goldberg who created the show –it’s based on his childhood memories – over the last eight years appearing in 177 episodes.

From dramas to Romantic comedies, from movie to television, George Segal could do it all. He could be the romantic lead, the tough soldier or cop, or the nebbish. George Segal was one of the best.

Sheldon Adelson
Casino and real estate Sheldon Adelson died in January at the age of 87. While he was not a politician himself, Adelson was a staunch supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The casino mogul was also the owner of the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom, which is widely known for its strong pro-Netanyahu line.

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Just before the 2020 elections, he donated $75 million to help President Trump get reelected. Adelson and his wife Miriam have given a total of $176 million to Republican causes in the 2020 election. In 2018 President Trump gave Sheldon Adelson America’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Carl Levin
The only politician on our list was possibly the most important Jew in American politics during his lifetime. Former U.S. Senator Carl Levin has passed away in July at the age of 87. Levin was the longest serving senator in the history of the State of Michigan, having served from 1979 to 2015, six full terms.

Carl Levin was born in Detroit in 1934. The liberal democrat served as a member of the Detroit City Council for 8 years before first being elected to the Senate.

Senator Carl Levin got his law degree from Harvard in 1959. Before entering politics he served as the General Counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from 1964 to 1967, where he helped form the Detroit Public Defender’s Office and led the Appellate Division of that office, which has become the State Appellate Defender’s Office. Levin then served as a special assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan and chief appellate defender for the city of Detroit from 1968 to 1969.

Sylvia Weinstock
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A post shared by Sylvia Weinstock (@sylviaweinstock)

Sylvia Weinstock may never have been a household name. She was not a celebrity, an actor, a musician nor did she run a major business. She was a very different kind of entrepreneur in a very old fashioned sense. She did not invent anything knew and was not in high tech or anything like that. She made her money in a very old fashioned way. Sylvia Weinstock was a baker.

Known for her 10-foot-tall wedding cakes, Weinstock died on at the age of 91 on November 22 at her home in Manhattan. She started out in life as a teacher, but switched to baking when she was 50 years old.

Sylvia Weinstock’s business got big in the 1980s with countless celebrity customers like Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian and Martha Stewart.

Dishonorable Mention: Bernie Madoff

Do we really need to say much here about this man who died in April at the age of 83? While he did spend the last 12 years of his life in a prison cell, most people probably feel that he either not have lived so long, or should have lived for at least another 20 years in solitary confinement. Plenty would have been happy to see him sentenced to life in front of a firing squad.

If you need us to recap Bernie Madoff’s crimes then you probably wouldn’t even know how to use the internet anyway.