I've posted a few times about my wife's father's pretty amazing 96 years on this planet and that, unfortunately, he had fairly serious dementia over the last couple of years - well, he finally passed away a couple of weeks ago after a stroke and a week or so in the hospital, but it was one of those cases where it was truly a blessing that his suffering ended. But that was just the end, which is always a sad occurrence.
Much more important is celebrating his 96 years of a life very well lived – from WWII hero alongside the more famous Audie Murphy to getting his PhD in Labor Relations in the early 1960s, to spending 20+ years at Rutgers as a Labor Relations professor (and including several years as assistant to Mason Gross, when he was President of RU) to being co-founder of the NJ Institute of Jazz Studies in the early 1970s to being a father of 5 kids (including my lovely wife) and a husband to 3 women (but not all at once)! He will definitely be missed.
An extended obituary follows and the link to the short obituary in the Home News is below. Normally, I wouldn't post an obituary on the board, but given his decades of support of all things Rutgers (and we took him to a few RU football games and watched a few more on TV), I thought people might want to read a bit more about a pretty cool guy I was lucky enough to have as my father-in-law.
Dr. William Martin Weinberg was born on March 2, 1921 in Philadelphia PA. His parents, Harry and Sophie Weinberg were Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants who escaped pogroms that preceded the Holocaust. William was raised on their chicken farm in Clayton, NJ with his brother, Morris. His dedication to education and hard work led him to eventually become a professor emeritus of Industrial Relations, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University. He led a long and distinguished life, marked by a daring military career in WWII and lasting achievements in labor relations, mediation and higher education. He was an advocate for worker’s rights and racial equality as well as a patron of the arts. He died after a short illness at the age of 96 on September 7, 2017.
Will Weinberg was a WWII veteran who served with Audie Murphy as his personal scout and with Col. Keith Ware. He fought in the battle on Christmas Hill (AKA Bloody Hill) in Alsace during the period of the Bulge when Ware earned his Congressional Medal of Honor. He was also one of the 17 surviving members of B Company from the battle of Holtzwihr, France where LT Audie Murphy so distinguished himself in combat he would go on to receive the Medal of Honor. His unit fought in the final campaign in Germany, participating in a vicious three-day battle to take Nuermberg where the US flag was raised on Adolf Hitler Platz on 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday. His unit helped to capture Strasburg and on the way liberated the German concentration camp at Natzweiler-Struthof near Schirmek.
After his service to his country, Will took full advantage of the GI bill, studying briefly at Cambridge University where he attended lectures by Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. He was a graduate of Glassboro (Rowan) State College; received a master’s degree from Temple University and earned his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania with a combined program in industrial relations at the Wharton School of Business. Dr. George Taylor of the Wharton School and former Chairman of the War Labor Board during WWII was his advisor and encouraged him to pursue a career in dispute settlement. Dr. Weinberg went on to teach at Temple University, Drexel University, Rider College, and Rutgers University.
He had a long and prestigious career as an arbitrator, mediator and administrator of dispute resolution agencies. Eight consecutive Governors of New Jersey, from both political parties, appointed him to provide dispute resolution leadership. He was Executive Director of the New Jersey Public Employer-Employees Relations Study Commission, whose analysis and recommendation formed the Police and Fire Arbitration Act of 1976, since which there have been no police or fire strikes in New Jersey. From 1986 to 2005 Will Weinberg served as Chairman NY-NJ Port Authority Employment Relations Panel. The Panel adjudicates disputes between the Port Authority and its unions. He was named as arbitrator in various collective bargaining agreements, in both the public and private sectors. He was on the arbitration panels of the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission, American Arbitration Association, New Jersey State Board of Mediation, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and other agencies.
Dr. Weinberg was an elected member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and chairperson of the Philadelphia region, 1980-1983. In July 1995 the Association of Labor Relations Agencies presented its Distinguished Service Award to him. This award had previously been presented only once in 45 years.
Will Weinberg was on the boards of many community action and anti-poverty programs starting in the 1950s including: Camden Home for Children, Chairman of Project Action-New Jersey Alliance of Business Council, Camden County Human Relations Commission mediating civil rights disputes. He also chaired an employment program that served as a national model for recruiting, training and integrating minority and disadvantaged youth into the building trade unions.
From 1981 to 1983 he served on the Judiciary Task Force, appointed by New Jersey Chief Justice Robert Wilentz to recommend collective bargaining procedures and policy. One result was the reorganization of the Administrative Office of the Courts to accommodate a labor relations function. Between 1986 and 1990 he was appointed by the Chief Justice to serve on another, similar task force.
In the fall of 1994 he functioned as a fact finder and consultant, providing a report and analysis of collective bargaining in higher education. This aided a task force of the Commission on Higher Education, appointed by Governor Whitman, to develop policy and procedures for developing new bargaining structures as a result of the reorganization of public higher education in New Jersey.
Alongside his arbitration career, Dr. Weinberg had a long and distinguished history with Rutgers University, serving as assistant to presidents Mason W. Gross and Edward J. Bloustein. Weinberg negotiated tirelessly with big businesses in New Brunswick to stay in the city through times of race riots in the late 1960s and unrest of the 70s. Johnson and Johnson, Rutgers New Brunswick and what is now Robert Wood Johnson Hospital still remain to this day. A lifelong jazz lover, he was a founding member of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University and was a member of its board for almost 25 years. The Institute is the world’s largest jazz archive.
In the 1990s William served as president of the I.L. Peretz Secular Jewish Community School while his daughter, Nora, attended school there. Among many contributions, he helped to arrange for Peretz's current home at Rutgers Preparatory School.
In his personal life Will loved to travel. He revisited his favorite places frequently throughout the years, like the South of France, Cape Cod, California, and Vermont. He traveled cross country many times, as a young man and later with his children. He loved the arts, particularly music, with a preference for Jazz and Classical music. He frequented the theater to see opera, ballet and loved fine art and architecture. He was both a very serious, professional person and a humorous, silly person. Will was a devoted husband and father and cherished the great loves of his life. He was a feminist before it was popular and a charmer up until his very last days. He told some of the best stories around. William will be remembered for his achievements by their lasting effects in the communities where he worked and by his colleagues, students, friends and family for the wisdom and humor he brought to their lives.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mycentraljersey/obituary.aspx?pid=186679064
Much more important is celebrating his 96 years of a life very well lived – from WWII hero alongside the more famous Audie Murphy to getting his PhD in Labor Relations in the early 1960s, to spending 20+ years at Rutgers as a Labor Relations professor (and including several years as assistant to Mason Gross, when he was President of RU) to being co-founder of the NJ Institute of Jazz Studies in the early 1970s to being a father of 5 kids (including my lovely wife) and a husband to 3 women (but not all at once)! He will definitely be missed.
An extended obituary follows and the link to the short obituary in the Home News is below. Normally, I wouldn't post an obituary on the board, but given his decades of support of all things Rutgers (and we took him to a few RU football games and watched a few more on TV), I thought people might want to read a bit more about a pretty cool guy I was lucky enough to have as my father-in-law.
Dr. William Martin Weinberg was born on March 2, 1921 in Philadelphia PA. His parents, Harry and Sophie Weinberg were Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants who escaped pogroms that preceded the Holocaust. William was raised on their chicken farm in Clayton, NJ with his brother, Morris. His dedication to education and hard work led him to eventually become a professor emeritus of Industrial Relations, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University. He led a long and distinguished life, marked by a daring military career in WWII and lasting achievements in labor relations, mediation and higher education. He was an advocate for worker’s rights and racial equality as well as a patron of the arts. He died after a short illness at the age of 96 on September 7, 2017.
Will Weinberg was a WWII veteran who served with Audie Murphy as his personal scout and with Col. Keith Ware. He fought in the battle on Christmas Hill (AKA Bloody Hill) in Alsace during the period of the Bulge when Ware earned his Congressional Medal of Honor. He was also one of the 17 surviving members of B Company from the battle of Holtzwihr, France where LT Audie Murphy so distinguished himself in combat he would go on to receive the Medal of Honor. His unit fought in the final campaign in Germany, participating in a vicious three-day battle to take Nuermberg where the US flag was raised on Adolf Hitler Platz on 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday. His unit helped to capture Strasburg and on the way liberated the German concentration camp at Natzweiler-Struthof near Schirmek.
After his service to his country, Will took full advantage of the GI bill, studying briefly at Cambridge University where he attended lectures by Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. He was a graduate of Glassboro (Rowan) State College; received a master’s degree from Temple University and earned his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania with a combined program in industrial relations at the Wharton School of Business. Dr. George Taylor of the Wharton School and former Chairman of the War Labor Board during WWII was his advisor and encouraged him to pursue a career in dispute settlement. Dr. Weinberg went on to teach at Temple University, Drexel University, Rider College, and Rutgers University.
He had a long and prestigious career as an arbitrator, mediator and administrator of dispute resolution agencies. Eight consecutive Governors of New Jersey, from both political parties, appointed him to provide dispute resolution leadership. He was Executive Director of the New Jersey Public Employer-Employees Relations Study Commission, whose analysis and recommendation formed the Police and Fire Arbitration Act of 1976, since which there have been no police or fire strikes in New Jersey. From 1986 to 2005 Will Weinberg served as Chairman NY-NJ Port Authority Employment Relations Panel. The Panel adjudicates disputes between the Port Authority and its unions. He was named as arbitrator in various collective bargaining agreements, in both the public and private sectors. He was on the arbitration panels of the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission, American Arbitration Association, New Jersey State Board of Mediation, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and other agencies.
Dr. Weinberg was an elected member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and chairperson of the Philadelphia region, 1980-1983. In July 1995 the Association of Labor Relations Agencies presented its Distinguished Service Award to him. This award had previously been presented only once in 45 years.
Will Weinberg was on the boards of many community action and anti-poverty programs starting in the 1950s including: Camden Home for Children, Chairman of Project Action-New Jersey Alliance of Business Council, Camden County Human Relations Commission mediating civil rights disputes. He also chaired an employment program that served as a national model for recruiting, training and integrating minority and disadvantaged youth into the building trade unions.
From 1981 to 1983 he served on the Judiciary Task Force, appointed by New Jersey Chief Justice Robert Wilentz to recommend collective bargaining procedures and policy. One result was the reorganization of the Administrative Office of the Courts to accommodate a labor relations function. Between 1986 and 1990 he was appointed by the Chief Justice to serve on another, similar task force.
In the fall of 1994 he functioned as a fact finder and consultant, providing a report and analysis of collective bargaining in higher education. This aided a task force of the Commission on Higher Education, appointed by Governor Whitman, to develop policy and procedures for developing new bargaining structures as a result of the reorganization of public higher education in New Jersey.
Alongside his arbitration career, Dr. Weinberg had a long and distinguished history with Rutgers University, serving as assistant to presidents Mason W. Gross and Edward J. Bloustein. Weinberg negotiated tirelessly with big businesses in New Brunswick to stay in the city through times of race riots in the late 1960s and unrest of the 70s. Johnson and Johnson, Rutgers New Brunswick and what is now Robert Wood Johnson Hospital still remain to this day. A lifelong jazz lover, he was a founding member of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University and was a member of its board for almost 25 years. The Institute is the world’s largest jazz archive.
In the 1990s William served as president of the I.L. Peretz Secular Jewish Community School while his daughter, Nora, attended school there. Among many contributions, he helped to arrange for Peretz's current home at Rutgers Preparatory School.
In his personal life Will loved to travel. He revisited his favorite places frequently throughout the years, like the South of France, Cape Cod, California, and Vermont. He traveled cross country many times, as a young man and later with his children. He loved the arts, particularly music, with a preference for Jazz and Classical music. He frequented the theater to see opera, ballet and loved fine art and architecture. He was both a very serious, professional person and a humorous, silly person. Will was a devoted husband and father and cherished the great loves of his life. He was a feminist before it was popular and a charmer up until his very last days. He told some of the best stories around. William will be remembered for his achievements by their lasting effects in the communities where he worked and by his colleagues, students, friends and family for the wisdom and humor he brought to their lives.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mycentraljersey/obituary.aspx?pid=186679064
