Obituary: Andre Kessler
On June 25, 2019, Andre John Kessler, loving husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully at the age of 79.
On June 25, 2019, Andre John Kessler, loving husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully at the age of 79. Andre was born on March 8, 1940, in Bucharest, Romania, to Olga Kessler and Ladislas Grunfeld. He is survived by his wife, Marsha Tenenbaum Kessler; daughter, Gena Kessler (Rusty) Hindman; son, Laurence (Lindsay Burnett) Kessler; and four grandchildren, Samuel, 11, Benjamin, 8, Joseph and Jordyn, both 6.
As a Holocaust survivor and child of Holocaust survivors, Andre and his mother survived by living in hiding in a tiny room for 16 months, escaped across several country borders and oceans, and after many tribulations arrived in Queens, N.Y. in 1951, when Andre was 11 years old. Andre spoke five languages, became a Navy Corpsman, graduated from and played basketball at New York University, and played two years of professional basketball. Andre then went to work for a textile company that brought him to Georgia, where he met Marsha. Together, they recently celebrated their 45th anniversary, in December 2018.
Andre was a passionate proponent of Holocaust education, and in 1976 he began speaking at the Atlanta Jewish Federation, The Bremen Museum and countless schools across the state of Georgia. He was appointed to the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust by Gov. Roy Barnes and was instrumental in the creation of Kennesaw State University’s Anne Frank exhibit.
In an interview in 2013, when asked why it was so important for him to speak about the Holocaust and his experience, Andre responded: “Even though the Holocaust is one of the most documented events in human history, 40 or 50 years from now it’s all going to be on tape, it’s all going to be on film. There aren’t going to be any living survivors around. It is important that it is not forgotten, and that is why I do what I do.”
A funeral service was held at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah June 28, 2019. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made on Andre’s behalf to Congregation B’nai Torah or the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.
comments