Sept. 2, 1931 - June 30, 2013
SOUTH BEND - Eugene was born in South Bend, Indiana, on September 2, 1931. He was the son of the late Reuben and Anne Abrams.

He graduated from South Bend Central High School. He attended Indiana University, Bloomington. He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

On October 26, 1958, he married Marlene Nelson. They have four children, Ruth Escamilla (Mario) in Houston, Deborah Ross (Ed) in Los Angeles, Susan Greenberg (David) in Portland and Steven in Los Angeles. Gene and Marlene are grandparents to seven wonderful grandchildren.

Gene was a teacher and central office administrator for School City of Mishawaka for nearly 40 years. He retired in 1995. Gene and Marlene have done much traveling since the retirement visiting their children and grandchildren. They also traveled throughout the world from Israel to China. They have enjoyed many cruises in between. Gene has been very active throughout his career. He tried to give back in some way to the community what they had given to him. Governor Evan Bayh appointed him to the Indiana Adult Literacy Commission. He was a longtime member of the St. Joseph County Board of Zoning Appeals. Gene was President of the Brotherhood of Temple Beth-El. He was also President of Temple Beth-El. He received the Distinguished Service Award from Temple Beth-El. He was also a member of the board of the Family and Children's Center Counseling and Developmental Service. He also served on the board of the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. Gene served on the board of the Michiana Jewish Historical Society. For many years he taught in the religious school of Temple Beth-El. He was also president of the Mishawaka-Penn chapter of the American Cancer Society.

South Bend's Mayor awarded Gene the Key to the City of South Bend in 2005. Gene was a Democratic precinct committeeman for many years. He was the Democratic Party nominee for the St. Joseph County Council. Gene spent most of the time in retirement doing his best to feed the hungry of this area, through the Temple Beth-El Food Fund which he started when he was president; he purchased food most every week to take to many food banks throughout St. Joseph County. For his work with the hungry, he was awarded the "Hearts of Fire" award from the United Religious Community. He was also awarded the "Spirit of Giving" award from the Family and Children's Center for the same reason. In his professional career Gene was honored as a Registered School Business Official from the National Association of School Business Officials. He was also a member of Phi Delta Kappa, national education honorary. During his long career he also served as president of the Mishawaka Education Association. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Indiana Association of School Business Association. Gene was also a member of Congregation Neveh Sholom in Portland, Oregon.

Gene passed peacefully on Sunday, June 30, 2013. He was laid to rest on Wednesday, July 3rd, at Neveh Zedek in Portland, Oregon. Contributions may be made in Gene's memory to the Food Pantry or to Temple Beth-El.

Published by South Bend Tribune on Jul. 7, 2013.

08/22/2022 EJS