H eadlines
Holocaust Refugee Claude Boni Dies at 88
OB ITUARY
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
HOLOCAUST REFUGEE
Claude Boni of Penn Valley
died on Jan. 29 at age 88.

He served as a Realtor in
Wynnefield, University City
and West Philadelphia for four
decades. Boni, along with his mother,
father and two older brothers,
Sylvain and Raymond Boni,
fled to the United States from
Bari, Italy, aboard the USNS
Henry Gibbins on Aug. 4,
1944. They were among 982
other refugees aboard the
Army transport boat shared
with wounded soldiers en route
to the Fort Ontario Emergency
Refugee Shelter in Oswego,
New York, under the orders of
President Franklin Roosevelt.

The refugee shelter in
Oswego provided schooling,
medical care and food to its
residents. During the family’s
stay in Oswego, First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt visited the
refugees. The family’s stay in the U.S.

was supposed to be temporary
— Roosevelt was only able to
make a deal with Congress about
the arrival of the refugees under
the auspice of them returning
after the war. However, strings
were pulled, and the refugees
were granted amnesty and were
able to stay in the U.S, albeit in
a convoluted process.

“They were driven to
Canada — crossed the border
to Canada — and then they
walked over the border to
make entry into the United
States,” son Paul Boni said.

Shortly after immigrating to
the U.S., the family relocated to
Philadelphia, as Claude Boni’s
mother, Bellina Boni, was
heartened by the prospect of
having her sons grow up in the
“City of Brotherly Love.”
Claude Boni’s father Jacques
Boni died of a heart attack in
Bari at age 39 and was buried
in a cemetery there. The family
returned to the cemetery when
Claude Boni was 65 — his first
time returning to Europe since
he fled as a child and his first
time visiting his father’s grave.

The family was unable to
find Jacques Boni’s grave and
asked the cemetery attendant
about its location. When they
mentioned they were Jewish,
the attendant was able to guide
them to the hidden Jewish
section of the cemetery and
show the Bonis their father’s
grave, a gesture for which
Claude Boni was grateful for
the rest of his life.

“Since then — it was over 20
years — my father sent money
to the cemetery,” daughter
Jackie Camhi said. “And not
only his father’s grave but to
help with the landscaping on
all the parts of the small Jewish
section.” On Nov. 27, the atten-
dant wrote Boni a letter with
pictures attached of Jacques
Boni’s grave, renewing his
annual commitment to care for
the graveyard.

Boni was born in Paris in
1933, but within the first 11
years of his life, he also had lived
in Skopje, North Macedonia;
Sofia, Bulgaria; Tirana, Albania;
and then Bari, as his family
worked to evade the Nazis and
give their children a normal
childhood. The brothers, most
of all Claude Boni, enjoyed
playing soccer. At one point,
he traveled with a soccer team
over the mountains as part of
the family’s escape plan.

As an adult, Boni spoke little
of his childhood, not wanting
it to define him, but he spoke at
greater length about his years
in the U.S.

After settling in Phila-
delphia, Boni attended West
Philadelphia High School and
then the Pennsylvania State
University, where he studied
health and physical education.

Over the summers, Boni
worked at the now-defunct
Camps Arthur and Reeta in
Philadelphia, where he was
a camp counselor for Joseph
Levine & Sons Funeral
Director Elliot Rosen in 1952,
when Boni was 19 and Rosen
was 11.

“I can only assume that
my counselors, Claude — and
Freddie Rabinowitz was the
co-counselor — whatever they
did as counselors gave me
a foundation to become the
person I became,” Rosen said.

Claude Boni (center) with brothers Raymond and Sylvain Boni
Courtesy of Paul Boni
Boni was briefly a physical
education teacher at Elizabeth
Duane Gillespie Junior High
School in the School District of
Philadelphia, where he met his
wife Sandra Boni, who taught
English and history. The couple
married in 1962.

After finding a passion for
real estate and establishing his
own office, Claude Boni offered
jobs to cousins and relatives in
need of mentorship or money.

Softspoken and modest,
Claude Boni enjoyed spending
time with his family. He
developed close relationships
with his two grandchildren,
Benjamin and Jonathan Brodo,
who called him their “hero.”
He was “kind of heart. He
always extended an opportu-
nity to family, to anyone who
came to him needing advice,”
Sandra Boni said.

Claude Boni is survived by
his wife, older brother Sylvain
Boni, two children and two
grandchildren. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
JCRC Expands Educational Opportunities
L OCA L
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
THE JEWISH FEDERATION
of Greater Philadelphia’s Jewish
Community Relations Council
has partnered with OpenDor
Media to make Jewish educa-
tion more accessible to the
6 FEBRUARY 10, 2022
Philadelphia Jewish community.

The partnership, which
began in November, gives
Jewish Federation partners,
such as synagogues, religious
schools and organizations,
access to OpenDor’s Unpacked
division, a digital media
“edutainment” brand creating
podcasts and videos on the
topics of Israel and Jewish
identity and heritage.

“Our partnership with
OpenDor Media will allow us
to access the tools we all need,
old or young, to greater artic-
ulate the importance of Jewish
values in our lives and to feel
confident as we talk about our
support of Israel, when doing
JEWISH EXPONENT
so may seem challenging, or
even, sadly, unsafe,” JCRC
Chair Danielle Weiss said in a
news release.

OpenDor Media has had
a partnership with Jack M.

Barrack Hebrew Academy and
Lower Merion Area Hebrew
High School at Har Zion
Temple for three years, which
has allowed the schools access
to OpenDor’s content for $600.

With JCRC’s new partnership,
the schools will have access to
the same content for $150, JCRC
Director Jason Holtzman said.

The partnership also will
allow JCRC to have a close
working relationship and seek
guidance on programming and
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM