Funeral Details

Arnold David Silberman
The Silberman family is heartbroken to announce that on July 11, 2025, we lost our beloved husband, father, and Zadie, who wanted us to note that he went “fighting all the way.” Arnie Silberman was born November 7, 1935, to Louis and Jean Silberman and grew up surrounded by extended family in what he fondly called the “shtetl” of North Minneapolis. Always a reader, he sailed through North High School, graduated in 1953, and lasted one year at the University of Minnesota before joining the U.S. Navy for a two-year stint of peacetime active duty. Assigned to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, he boxed, played on the baseball team, and wrote feature stories for the base newspaper. Returning to the U of M, he earned a B.A. and a Master’s degree, and then embarked on a near-30 year career in corporate Human Resources in a wide range of industries, beginning in the early 1960s with Control Data Corp. A position with the Chicago and North Western Railway brought him to Chicago in 1967, and he retired as a Vice President at Rust-Oleum Corp. when he was 55. In retirement, he continued a "second career" as an expert witness in Equal Employment Opportunity cases in state and federal courts, and numerous volunteer positions, including 20 years on the Lake County Workforce Investment Board and 14 years as a Deerfield Police Commissioner. Street-smart and tough, but also a truly happy, open, and generous soul, he enjoyed every job. But his greatest loves were three: baseball (he played, umpired, coached hundreds of kids, and was a longtime Chicago Cubs season ticket holder); poker (a winner in his last game with buddies, five days before he died); and, above all, his family. Married to “the love of my life,” Deanna Isaacs, for 67 years, he reveled in everything about their daughter Robin, son Brian, and four grandchildren. Actively involved and always there for them, he was loving and fun -- the father his children’s friends envied. He was also a natural performer: you can still catch him as the home plate umpire in the movie "Rookie of the Year." Survived by Deanna, Brian, daughter-in-law Martha, grandchildren and grandchildren-in-law Jack and Jasmin Silberman, Sophia and Logan Mathesen, Dr. Claire Silberman, Ruth Silberman, sister Patti Gould, son-in-law Allen Bucknell and the entire Bucknell family, and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and treasured friends. A graveside service at Graceland Cemetery will be private; arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals.