H eadlines
Rose Sandler, World Traveler, Dies at 39
Bucks East High School
sense of how she felt all
and later attended Penn
the time.

State University, where
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
Her parents said they
she studied engineering.

tried every option that
She went to work for
NO ADVENTURE WAS too
could offer hope for their
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.

daunting for Rose Sandler.

daughter, but nothing
in Stratford, Connecticut,
The Pipersville native went
seemed to stick.

where she met and
diving in the Caribbean, hiking
“If there had been
married Cameron Byrd.

in Patagonia, lobster fishing in
something that we could
The marriage ended in
Maine and camel riding in the
have found — we sure
divorce after three years.

Gobi Desert.

looked high and we sure
She moved to North
She rode in countless horse-
looked low, but at this
Carolina to manage a
back races. She completed the
point, it’s not out there
40-horse stable before
655-mile Mongol Derby in 2014,
yet,” Jay Sandler said.

she was hired by General
competed in the 250-mile Race
Abigail Sandler said
Atomics, an aerospace
the Wild Coast in South Africa
condolences have come
company in San Diego,
in 2016 and was named “rookie
pouring in on social media
and moved to Poway.

of the year” in the 100-mile
since her niece’s death.

Rose Sandler
Courtesy of Jay and Lisa Sandler
Although Sandler was
Tevis Cup in California in 2017.

Friends have shared stories
not religious, she identi-
Sandler, a materials specialist,
about her kindness, intel-
fied strongly with her family’s She shared her father’s love for ligence and sense of humor, and
also suffered from mental illness
Jewish identity. She attended Jewish cuisine; in the wake of her paddling club, the Hanohano
and spent years battling depres-
Hebrew school for several years her death, her friends wrote Outrigger Canoe Club, held a
sion. Her parents, Jay and Lisa
and went to Camp Harlam, to her family about their fond memorial in her honor. Traveling
Sandler, flew out to her home
where she made lifelong friends. memories of the latke parties Stories, the storytelling organi-
in Poway, California, in July to
she threw for Chanukah.

zation she volunteered with, has
She had tried various also reached out. Some of her
Name: Jewish Fed. of Greater Phila. (
medication and therapy options family members who have not
Width: 5.5 in
over the years, and when her spoken to each other for years are
Depth: 5.5 in
depression grew worse in reconnecting to share their grief.

Color: Black
Poway, she sought treatment
Lisa Sandler regrets not
Comment: JE-Endowments
Ad Number: 00092780
at Pacific Pearl La Jolla. She talking more frequently with
was close with her aunt, Abigail her daughter about her illness
Sandler, who lived nearby and and how much she loved her
was a source of support as she in the last months of her life.

navigated her intake interview If she could do it over again,
and hospitalizations.

she said, she would ask her
Her therapist, Michele how she was feeling every day
Manker, worked with her for six to check if she was planning to
years and said they developed hurt herself.

a strong therapeutic relation-
She and her husband hope
ship. Three years ago, Manker that other families impacted by
noticed Sandler stopped cycling mental illness and suicide can
out of her depression symptoms, learn from their experiences
which she had previously been and know they are not alone.

Cis established a permanent gift to the Jewish Federation’s Annual Campaign
“Every family is different,” she
able to do on a regular basis.

before she passed away in 2006. Today, she is feeding the food insecure, supporting
“In 40 years in the mental said. “Keep being vigilant every
older adults, and caring for at-risk children in Israel through her endowment gift.

health profession, I have never day, as best you can, depending
Thanks to Cis’ deep commitment to the Jewish community and her Lion of
seen anyone struggle this hard, on your circumstances.” l
Judah Endowment with the Jewish Federation, her memory and generosity will
just helpless, and try just about
live on forever.

every form of therapeutic inter- If you or someone you know
To establish your Jewish legacy, contact Jennifer Brier:
vention that’s offered, really,” is thinking of suicide, call the
215.832.0528 or jbrier@jewishphilly.org
National Suicide Prevention
Manker told the Exponent.

She added that the pandemic Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or
had little impact on Sandler’s text TALK to the Crisis Text
sense of isolation and hopeless- Line at 741741.

jewishphilly.org/plannedgiving ness. In fact, Sandler once
told her that the crisis meant spanzer@jewishexponent.com;
everyone in the world had a 215-832-0729
OB ITUARY
escort her back to Bucks County
when it became clear her condi-
tion was getting worse.

She died by suicide on Nov.

23. She was 39.

“She has left her family,
friends and many others she
adventured with throughout
the world bereaved and heart-
broken,” her parents wrote in
an obituary.

Sandler grew up going
fishing with her father, taking
nature walks with her mother
and riding horses at stables
near her childhood home. Her
father ran a crane operating
business, and she developed an
early passion for taking things
apart and putting them back
together. Lisa Sandler said her
daughter began experiencing
mental health issues during her
youth. She attended Central
What’s your legacy?
4 DECEMBER 17, 2020
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H EADLINES
Advocate for Elderly
Elias Surut Cohen
Dies at 93
OB ITUARY
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
ELIAS SURUT COHEN of
Wynnewood, an advocate
on behalf of the elderly
and a lawyer who served as
Pennsylvania’s first state
commissioner for aging issues,
died on Nov. 24 at Lankenau
Medical Center from an intes-
tinal ailment. He was 93.

To those who knew him
well, Cohen was “Eli.” To his
sons, Barry and Peter, he was
someone to emulate. And in
one much-publicized incident,
he was referred to as “wild
jackass,” a title that Barry
Cohen disputes but the man
himself was delighted by.

Th e incident came during a
1961 legislative session of the
Pennsylvania Senate, just a few
years into Cohen’s tenure as
state commissioner for aging
issues in the Department of
Public Welfare, aft er he had
earned a reputation as a
forceful promoter of rigorous
standards for nursing home
operators. Sen. Israel Stiefel,
a fellow Philadelphia Jew and
Democrat (and a scholar of the
Bible and Semitic languages)
hurled the epithet at Cohen
during the reading of House
Marcia and Elias Cohen in Arizona
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Name: The Atlantis
Width: 5.5 in
Depth: 11 in
Color: Black plus one
Comment: JE-ROP
Ad Number: 00092772
Bill 1172.

“A public offi cial should be
fi rm, decent and courteous,”
Stiefel said, according to Th e
Philadelphia Inquirer, “and
these are qualities which Elias
Cohen lacks.” Cohen was
defended by at least one senator,
according to the Inquirer, and
the legislation passed anyway.

Cohen was appointed to
his position as commissioner
on aging in 1959, when he
was just 29. By then, he was
married to Marcia Cohen, who
he met when she was still in
high school in Long Island,
New York. Aft er they married
in 1948, they moved to Camp
Hill. Marcia Cohen recalls
that her husband was voted
“most versatile” in his high
school yearbook, and that
he maintained his notably
wide variety of interests and
abilities throughout his life.

Outside of his work as a public
advocate, lawyer and editor of
Th e Gerontologist, a national
journal on aging, Cohen was
also a leading collector of
antique sheet music, according
to Barry Cohen. He played
guitar, too, and polished the
silver of the Torah ornaments
See Cohen, Page 8
Photo by Claire H. Cohen
JEWISH EXPONENT
DECEMBER 17, 2020
5