Written by ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

On a recent morning before communal prayers at a synagogue, Harry Rosenberg told a friend that his new beachfront condo in Florida offered a much-needed change of scenery after an awful year in which he lost his wife to cancer and both parents to COVID-19 in New York.

The home in Surfside was to be a gathering spot for visiting children and grandchildren, and his daughter and son-in-law were doing just that when they traveled to the condo last week from New Jersey to join him for the Sabbath.

Hours later, the building collapsed, and all three family members are missing in the rubble.

Their cascading tragedies — cancer, COVID-19 and now the flattening of the building — are reminders of the excruciating toll the collapse has taken on families after what was already a grief-filled year.

Elsewhere in the building, a woman also sought a fresh start in Florida after falling ill and recovering from COVID-19. Another man was visiting Florida to attend the funeral of an old friend who died after being infected, and a Colombian family was in Miami to get the vaccine.

“He told me, ‘It is the next chapter of my life.’ He went through hell. His parents passed away. His wife passed away,” said Steve Eisenberg, who saw the 52-year-old asset manager last week at the synagogue.

Rosenberg “came to Florida to breathe a little bit,¨ said Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, founder of the Shul of Bal Harbour, the synagogue he joined.

When the building tumbled to the ground, Rosenberg’s daughter, Malky Weisz, 27, and her husband, Benny Weisz, 32, had just arrived for their visit on the second floor of Champlain Towers South. So far, 12 bodies have been recovered. Almost 150 people are still unaccounted for.

Described as a family man and observant Jew, Rosenberg had launched a young adult center for mental healing at a hospital in Israel in memory of his late wife, Anna Rosenberg.

Before his wife died last summer of a brain tumor, he spent three years taking care of her, a close friend said.

“He put his life on hold,” said Maurice Wachsmann, a friend of Rosenberg’s for more than 30 years.

Months after her death came more heartache. His father died of COVID-19 in January, and weeks later his mother died of the same.

“It was extremely difficult,” Wachsmann said. “He did everything for his parents. Family first, before everything.”

Rosenberg decided to move to Florida, first renting smaller apartments and finally buying last month the larger condo in Surfside, north of Miami Beach.

Last week, Rosenberg traveled to New York for the baby-naming ceremony of his second grandchild and rushed back to Miami to prepare for his daughter and son-in-law’s visit. She works as an auditor at a branch of the Roth & Co accounting firm in Farmington, New Jersey. Her Austrian-born husband works in finance.

In his short time in Florida, he was already known by people in the community. Fellow members of the synagogue and his family are now anxiously awaiting any news from the scene. In the pile of rubble, family and friends have spotted one remnant of his life at Surfside from afar: a white couch.

 

Related Stories
‹
Report: Evidence of Extensive Corrosion in Collapsed Condo
Video released by a team of federal investigators shows more evidence of extensive corrosion and overcrowded concrete reinforcement in a Miami-area condominium that collapsed in June, killing 98 people. The National Institute of Standards and Technology also announced Wednesday it will conduct a five-pronged investigation into the Champlain Towers South collapse, which will be led […]
Tears, Prayer Mark End To Search for Florida Condo Survivors
Written by TERRY SPENCER and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON A somber moment of silence marked the end of the two-week search for survivors of a Florida condominium collapse, as rescue workers stood at solemn attention and clergy members hugged a line of local officials while many of them sobbed. The painstaking search for survivors shifted to […]
14 Days After Florida Condo Collapse, No Signs of Survivors
Written by TERRY SPENCER The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day on Wednesday, with the death toll at three dozen, more than 100 people still unaccounted for and authorities sounding more and more grim. Crews dug through pulverized concrete where the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside once […]
4 More Victims Found in Rubble; Death Toll Rises to 32
Written by ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN The discovery of four more victims in the rubble of a collapsed condominium building raised the death toll to 32, a fire official said Tuesday as a ramped-up search effort faced new threats from severe weather with Tropical Storm Elsa lashing Florida on a path that […]
Collapse Survivors Escaped With Their Lives, but Little Else
Written by RUSS BYNUM and KELLI KENNEDY Susana Alvarez fled her home on the 10th floor of Champlain Towers South, escaping with her life and almost nothing else. “I don’t have anything,” said the 62-year-old survivor of the condominium building collapse just outside Miami. “I walked out with my pajamas and my phone.” The disaster […]
Devastated Condo Community Looks to Biden Visit for Comfort
Written by TERRY SPENCER As the search for survivors of a Florida condo collapse enters its second week, rescue crews and relatives of those still missing are scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden on Thursday, in a visit many are hoping will provide some measure of comfort to a devastated community. Biden and first […]
Tunneling Florida Rescuers Spot Voids, Search for Survivors
Written by TERRY SPENCER and RUSS BYNUM Rescue workers digging feverishly for a fifth day Monday stressed that they could still find survivors in the rubble of a collapsed Florida condo building, a hope family members clung to even though no one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the structure fell. […]
Death Toll in Florida Collapse Rises to 4; 159 Still Missing
Written by TERRY SPENCER and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON About 160 people were still unaccounted for Friday a day after an oceanside condominium building collapsed into a pile of rubble, and searchers combing through a twisted, shifting pile of concrete and metal feared the death toll of at least four could go much higher. With scores […]
Wing of Miami-Area Condo Collapses; At Least 1 Person Dead
Written by WILFREDO LEE A wing of a 12-story beachfront apartment building collapsed in a town outside Miami early Thursday morning, killing at least one person while trapping residents in rubble and twisted metal. Scores of rescuers pulled survivors from the debris as a cloud of dust floated through the neighborhood. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett […]
Florida State Gunman Used Deputy Mom’s Former Service Weapon To Kill 2 and Wound 6, Authorities Say
The 20-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy opened fire Thursday at Florida State University with his mother’s former service weapon, killing two men and wounding at least six others, investigators said.
›