78R4692 MW-D

By:  Hochberg                                                     H.R. No. 172



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, The Lone Star State lost a distinguished and heroic  
citizen when Josef Mincberg of Houston passed away on January 10, 
2003, at the age of 86; and
	WHEREAS, Mr. Mincberg was born on March 15, 1916, in 
Szydlowiec, Poland, where he received his education and worked in 
his father's electrical shop; and
	WHEREAS, During World War II, Mr. Mincberg lost his immediate 
family to the Holocaust, but he defied the Nazis by jumping off the 
train delivering him to the death camp Treblinka; then, the 
Nowakowskis, a Polish Christian family with whom he maintained a 
relationship the rest of his life, gave him support and protection; 
and
	WHEREAS, After the Soviet Army liberated Poland, Mr. Mincberg 
moved to the American sector of Germany, where he met and fell in 
love with Edith "Dita" Sternlicht; they were married in January 
1949 and later that year immigrated to the United States; and
	WHEREAS, The couple settled in Houston and established the 
Mincberg Construction Company, Inc.; a longtime member and generous 
supporter of the Congregation Beth Yeshurun, he helped to build the 
Lubavitch Chabad House of Worship and Study and to develop the Seven 
Acres Jewish Geriatric Center; and
	WHEREAS, A respected community leader, Mr. Mincberg was a 
charter member of the I. Weiner Middle School, a founding member of 
the Hebrew Free Loan Association, a Hadassah Associate, and a 
member of the Shidlovtzer Society in the United States and Israel; 
and
	WHEREAS, Mr. Mincberg avidly supported Israel and sought ways 
to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust; he was a member of the 
Houston Council of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and charter member of 
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.; in 
Houston, he helped to establish the Holocaust Museum Houston, 
endowing it with the Josef and Edith Mincberg Gallery; and
	WHEREAS, This esteemed gentleman demonstrated uncommon 
courage, perseverance, and generosity throughout his lifetime; he 
positively influenced the lives of countless individuals and, in 
their hearts, his spirit continues to live; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 78th Texas 
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Josef Mincberg and 
extend sympathy to the members of his family:  to his beloved wife, 
Edith Mincberg; to his son, David Mincberg, and his wife, Lainie 
Gordon; to his daughter, Pearl Mincberg, and her husband, Meir 
Monk; to his grandchildren, Adam, Erin, Mallory, and Seth Mincberg, 
and Orly, Natalie, and Doreen Monk; to his step-granddaughter, 
Samantha Gordon; and to his other relatives and numerous friends; 
and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be 
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of 
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Josef 
Mincberg.