Max Epstein Obituary

I first met Max as an EE student at Northwestern in the 60’s. He was fairly new to Northwestern at the time. He was a memorable teacher and on occasion you could see the tattoo on his am if his sleeves were rolled up. To my knowledge, it is the only contact in my life with a Holocaust survivor.

A few years ago, while watching a documentary on WTTW, I saw Max as one of the speakers. I said to my wife, “I know that man”. I reached out to reconnect with him briefly. Until I saw his death notice in the alumni magazine, I was unaware of his passing. Thus this late posting.

I remember Max, and am saddened by his death. Not many people in a lifetime remain in your memory for more than 50 years, but Max was one of them for me.

Max and I were close colleagues at the IIT Research Institute in Chicago. We were also close friends for many years. Max was brilliant, kind, caring, wise, and brave. His breadth of knowledge was extensive, spanning literature, philosophy, history and politics. He was also an exceptional engineer and physicist, always very practical but also based on fundamental understanding.

When Judy, he, Betsy-my wife and theologian- and I were together, the conversation between Max and Betsy always gravitated towards spiritual matters.

Later in life, our second daughter, Jenifer, earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern. Max had suggested that this would be a good choice for her and was an exciting field.

Max influenced our lives in many ways.

He was a neighbor, a friend and a client . I was impressed with his brilliance, his kind nature, his humility, his humanity and his friendship.

When we would meet in the halls of Tech ( he was in EE and I was in Physics, at opposite ends of the building) we would usually end up chatting for a while. I was always interested in his perspective on things. He was a broadly interesting fellow. I didn't know he graduated from Technion--I was a visiting Prof. there for two quarters and knew most of the faculty.

Max and I shared a lot in common. He survived in the Lodz Ghetto. My father was born in Lodz. his parents escaped to Israel Lodz, because of pogroms, but all their relatives were killed by the Nazis. My father Aharon was a very famous scientist, who was killed in Ben Gurion Airport, by Japanese terrorists. Max knew him and my uncle Ephraim, who was the president of Israel. Max participated in our War of Independence. It is befitting that he died a few days before our Independence day. I was and officer and participated in the other wars. Thus we became not only colleagues but we shared memories and became friends. Max symbolized for me the strength of the Jews who survived thousands of years of persecution, and we both admired the wisdom and the unity of the Jewish People. I will miss you Max.