Funeral Details

Sam Grodzin

Shiva

Zoom Shiva
December 21, 2020 6:30PM CT (US and Canada)
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OBITUARY

Samuel Eliot Grodzin, ninety-four years old, died peacefully on Thursday December 17, 2020.

Sam lived a long life in which he found success and contentment with family, friends and his community. That is no small accomplishment.

When he began seeing his wife Roslyn in 1964, he had recently suffered the disappointment of a brief marriage that did not work out. Roslyn had lost her husband and was left alone with three young children. Together they made their married lives a success for the next forty-five years.

Sam was a war veteran. America joined the Second World War and Sam enlisted in the Navy, serving at sea in the Pacific Theater.

Honorably discharged, he returned to his hometown of Zion, Illinois where he managed with his father the iconic Zion Department Store. The store was a block-long Victorian wood and shingle structure. When it burned to the ground, Sam was entrusted to carry on his family’s merchant tradition and its good name. The business he rebuilt, Mr. Sam’s, was a success and he was chosen President of the Zion Chamber of Commerce.

Sam involved himself generously in his communities, building a pond and bridge named after his father Julius in the Zion town park and leading the local Lion’s Club in many civic and charitable projects. When he married Roslyn and moved to Highland Park, they were among the founding members of a new synagogue in neighboring Deerfield, The Moriah Congregation. Later, when they moved to Chicago, he and Roslyn were active in the Jewish community there, contributing to their Anshe Emet Synagogue not only financially, but with their personal participation in adult education and other programs of enrichment to the community.

Surrounded by many friends who shared Shabbat dinners, synagogue services and neighborhood outings, the end of his life, bound to a wheel chair, was nevertheless difficult. But he did not complain. He continued to wage life independently after Roslyn died last year.

We mourn Sam’s death, but we can be comforted by remembering that in a long life he found success and contentment.


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Sam was a kind loving man who treated all he met with respect and humility. He treated his wife, family, and friends to a listening, curious, and thoughtful presence. I will remember Sam and Roz as my parents' best friends through long well lived lives. Condolences to Tina, Mark, Shelby, and the entire Yastrow and Zimmett families.

John Seidenfeld
December 19, 2020
I will miss Sam's sense of humor and love of life. Growing up with Debbie and visiting Sam and Roz often, I always think of Sam's sparkle in his eye and general joy at all around him. I remember his constant attendance at all of "Aunt" Roz's shows and his pride in her accomplishments. Shopping at Mr. Sam's in high school was a favorite outing with my mother. Sam and Roz will always be part of my memories of my parents and Debbie and I think of them often. My condolences to all of you.

Leah Seidenfeld Bailey
December 19, 2020
I will miss seeing you in shul every Shabbos and wishing you a Shabbat Shalom as you always extended a firm hand shake in return. I will miss studying with you as you still maintained your thoughtful input for whatever class you attended. I will miss how you and Roz always stepped up when called upon. You both were role models for all of us.

Barry Balik
December 19, 2020
Some 10 to 15 years ago, while visiting Sam and Roz, Sam called me aside to his "office". He wanted to show me something he had brought home from his time in the Navy. He asked me to identify a rifle which proved to be a Japanese infantryman's rifle made by Arisaka. Knowing I was a shooter, he asked if I wanted to buy it, but seeing it's condition, I demurred.
About a year later, he invited me to go with him onto Lake Michigan on his boat with his boating partner. It was a 25 or 26 ft. power boat which was docked in Montrose Harbor. Five or six times that year and about ten times the following year, I joined the two, trying to learn the rules, techniques, and language of boating while still enjoying our time on the water. We all learned that I was not very good at these skills, but I recall how much fun we had spending summer days which each other, bobbing on the waves or zooming through them. I'm still grateful for the opportunity to get to know Sam as a person, not just as my son-in-law Josh's uncle.
I want to express my condolences to the whole Grodzin family during this stressful time of loss.
Sam was a fine person who I am honored to have known. I will miss his smiling eyes.

Cy Wax
December 21, 2020
Sam and I had a unique connection. We both married into the same wonderful family, 50 years apart, and we both lost our two best friends. "I lost my two best girls," is all Sam would share with me of his pain. I talked about losing Debbie and he'd tell me about the Shabbat dinner when Debbie told everyone about the really nice man she met the day before. Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children, and Sam didn't expect to outlive Roz either. I love that Sam added 'actress' to Roz's gravestone. I guess he knew the woman.

Paul Gallender
December 23, 2020