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Cantor, Radio Host Roger Wechsler Dies
OB ITUARY
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
ROGER WECHSLER loved
the spotlight.

Whether he was leading
services as a cantor, commen-
tating on his sports radio show
or instructing students as a
substitute teacher, he had a
passion for entertaining an
audience. “Dad was definitely a
showman his whole life,”
daughter Erica Rovinsky said.

Wechsler died Dec. 8 at the
age of 72.

Born in Philadelphia to
Mildred and Gerald Wechsler,
Roger Wechsler was an eldest
child with two younger
brothers, Peter and Scott. The
family later moved to Dresher
and joined Temple Sinai, where
Roger Wechsler
Courtesy of Erica Rovinsky
machines and provide unlim-
ited snack access.

“Dad working for a vending
machine company, owning a
vending machine company
happy with his performance
they asked him to stay and
fill in until the other cantor
returned. He planned to act
in a temporary capacity, but
his predecessor never recov-
ered enough to resume his full
duties, so he remained with
the congregation and became a
regular cantor, leading services
on Fridays and Saturdays.

He and his wife, Robin,
raised their children as
Conservative Jews. He also
regularly led holiday celebra-
tions at relatives’ houses or a
country club.

“We had some legendary
Passover seders with him
leading services upwards of
maybe 50 people,” son Jeffrey
Wechsler said.

He was an avid Philadelphia
sports fan, and the family had
two television sets so they
Wechsler said.

He passed his love of sports
down to his children, who were
both athletes in high school and
college. Jeffrey Wechsler took
it a step further and pursued
a career in sports production,
earning three Emmy awards.

“My dad was so super proud
of that. If my dad could have
worn the Emmy around his
neck, he would have,” Rovinsky
said. Jeffrey Wechsler previously
worked at ESPN and is now a
sports producer at NBC Sports
Philadelphia. “He was pretty happy with
that,” he said. “It was a lot
of fun when he got to work
with me and I could show
him around ESPN and Sports
Philadelphia.” Later, Roger Wechsler left the
world of business to become a
substitute teacher, and taught in
schools in the Philadelphia area
for 10 years. Jeffrey Wechsler
said he started teaching as a
favor to a friend, but began to
enjoy being in school, getting to
know the students and joking
around with them.

He said his father strug-
gled with diabetes in his
later years, but was always an
energetic grandfather to his
two children.

“The last couple of years
were really tough, physically,
for him. Especially this last,
since COVID was really hard,”
he said. “But you’d never really
know when we FaceTimed. He
was just himself, full of energy
and love and making the kids
laugh.” l
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The last couple of years were really tough, physically, for him.

Especially this last, since COVID was really hard. But you’d never really
know when we FaceTimed. He was just himself, full of energy and love
and making the kids laugh.”
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…WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS
JEFFREY WECHSLER
he was a member and served
as a backup cantor for many
years. As an adult, he served as
president of the Men’s Club and
captain of the softball team.

He graduated
from Central High School and
earned his undergraduate
degree in business from
Temple University. After
college, he went into business
with his brothers at their
vending machine company
Vendrite. His children have
fond memories of him using
his master key to pop open
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM and having all the vending
machine goodies at his disposal
is definitely a fun memory of
mine,” Rovinsky said.

Wechsler was passionate
about Judaism and became a
cantor at Temple Beth Ami.

Rovinsky said he took up the
position in 2000 when his
friend’s son was having his
bar mitzvah and the cantor
fell ill. The friend knew it
was something that Wechsler
would love to do, so he asked
him to fill in for the event.

The family and staff were so
could watch games simultane-
ously if the Flyers were playing
at the same time as the Phillies
or Eagles.

He hosted the sports talk
radio show “Sports Monday
With Roger Wechsler” and
served as the sports director at
WBCB radio station in Fairless
Hills for many years.

“He got a chance to sort of
live every sports fan’s dream in
that he could host his own radio
show and, you know, complain
about the Phillies and Eagles as
much as he wanted to,” Jeffrey
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DECEMBER 24, 2020
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