By:Jonann Brady
Memorial fund set up at South Baldwin Jewish Center
Alvin Bergsohn, 48, was honored by hundreds of friends and family at a service at Gutterman's Funeral Home in Rockville Centre last Friday.
Bergsohn, a Baldwin resident, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald
on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center, and his body was recovered intact on Tuesday, Sept. 18. He is one of possibly 700 missing from the financial services firm, which was especially hard hit by the attack. Bergsohn escaped the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. At that time, he worked for Dean Witter.
Bergsohn is survived by his wife, Michele, and their sons Sam, 14, and Harris, 12. He is also survived by his parents, Kenny and Janet Bergsohn, his sister Renee Hoffman, and a nephew, Daniel Hoffman.
"He was a great husband and a great father," said his wife Michele. "He loved his kids and all their friends so much."
A self-taught guitar player who loved rock and roll, comic books and sports, Michele described her husband as "a little kid in a grown man's body."
Friends and relatives spoke of his love of parties and concerts in his younger days, and his continued zest for life, especially skiing and playing baseball with his sons.
Jeff Onifather grew up with Bergsohn in East New York, and the two attended concerts together at the famed Fillmore East. "We saw Jim Morrison and The Doors. The Rolling Stones. The Who. We were at the end of the heyday," said Onifather.
As the two boys from Brooklyn grew up, got married and had kids, they stayed close and took frequent family skiing trips to Killington and other resorts.
"We said one day our kids will be blowing by us on the mountain. That happened last year. We couldn't keep up," said Onifather.
At his service, Bergsohn's brother-in-law, Howard Zapken remembered "that big Alvin hug, that great big Alvin hug."
Michele spoke movingly at his service of coming to terms with her family's tragedy. "I realized when I went to the World Trade Center that this was not just personal, but part of something much bigger, a global problem as well as a personal problem," she said. "I say to all the young people who knew him and my kids: he would want everyone to remember him for the good times and the good things."
The South Baldwin Jewish Center has set up a memorial fund in Bergsohn's honor. Contributions can be made out to the Rabbi's Discretionary Fund and sent to the South Baldwin Jewish Center at 2959 Grand Ave.
