He survived the Holocaust and was killed crossing the road at age 99

After surviving two wars, the Nazi invasion of Hungary and the Holocaust, a 99-year-old man died Saturday afternoon after being hit by a automotive on his solution to synagogue, relations and police mentioned.
On Saturday, Jack Mikulincer, who had turned 99 about two weeks earlier, was crossing Oriental Boulevard in Brooklyn in his electrical wheelchair, making his weekly journey to the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center to look at the Sabbath. Mikulincer was referred to as the gabbai of the synagogue, main its day-to-day operations.
As he crossed the road, Mikulincer was hit by a BMW, a spokesman for the New York Police Department mentioned, and was taken to Coney Island Hospital, the place he was pronounced useless. The driver of the car stayed on the scene, the spokesman mentioned, and the police investigation is ongoing.
“I still don’t believe I’m never going to see him again,” mentioned Elke Weiss, 36, one among Mikulincer’s grandchildren. “He was such an amazing person.”
Mikulincer was accompanied by one among his closest mates, Jehuda Lindenblatt, 85, who mentioned they met up at Mikulincer’s home to go to the synagogue as they did each Saturday. Minutes later, Mikulincer was useless. Lindenblatt mentioned he was just a few ft behind him.
An undated photograph offered by Elke Weiss exhibits Jack Mikulincer, left, from his time within the Israeli Army throughout that nation’s struggle for independence. (through Elke Weiss through The New York Times)
Lindenblatt, who can be a Holocaust survivor, mentioned his pal’s loss of life has been particularly painful for him.
“I saw so much death in my life, piles of people,” Lindenblatt mentioned. “It never hit me that much like it hit, this one.”
Mikulincer was born January 20, 1923, in what’s now referred to as Ukraine, one among eight youngsters. He fought in two wars, as soon as with the Russian military throughout World War II earlier than being confined within the Stanisławów Ghetto, and as soon as with the Israeli military throughout Israel’s struggle for independence.
These have been darkish intervals of his life he was usually reluctant to debate, Weiss mentioned.
In Israel, Mikulincer met and married his spouse, Frantiska, an Auschwitz survivor, earlier than shifting to New York. Family and mates described Mikulincer as charismatic, vigorous and dedicated to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He may be cussed, Weiss mentioned, resisting anybody who supplied to assist deal with him and refusing to maneuver to a nursing residence.
“I can’t believe my grandfather, who survived so much, was killed in a car accident,” Weiss mentioned.
For a few years, he owned a bakery in Brighton Beach known as Aviva Bakery, named after one among his daughters. Though he made all the pieces from nut cake and rainbow cookies to mandelbrot, he was particularly well-known among the many household for his brownies, Weiss mentioned.
Weiss mentioned one among her favourite recollections of her grandfather was the primary time she had a Skype name with him. As her mom related the decision, he peered into the display, considering he was taking a look at an image of his granddaughter. When she waved, she mentioned, he jumped in shock.
“He said, ‘You can hear us?’” Weiss mentioned, laughing. “He said, ‘I’m a very modern man, but this is magic.’ I mean, he remembered horse-drawn carriages.”
He stayed lively at the same time as he obtained older, going for bike rides and lengthy walks. He was additionally an avid painter, Weiss mentioned, and loved History Channel documentaries about Israel and the top of World War II.
In latest years, one among his favourite issues to do was tread the boardwalk on Manhattan Beach with Lindenblatt — Mikulincer in his electrical wheelchair, Lindenblatt on foot. The two met 51 years in the past, when Lindenblatt moved to a home one block from Mikulincer’s bakery.
Lindenblatt mentioned he and his pal generally mirrored on all of the instances they escaped loss of life over the course of their lives. Both had endured a lot ache and struggling, he mentioned, including that what Mikulincer would inform him to do after mourning is strictly that — to outlive, and to maintain shifting ahead.
“Men like this you cannot find,” Lindenblatt mentioned. “I am happy I spent with him the years. He was unbelievable. If you meet him, you love him instantly.”
He was a well known determine in his neighborhood: On his 99th birthday, in lieu of an in-person celebration, Weiss mentioned her grandfather was inundated with so many cellphone calls that the household joked that when he turned 100, Mikulincer would wish a non-public secretary.
“It’s amazing, how somebody who had so much bitterness in his life made our lives so sweet,” Weiss mentioned.