Abraham Jacob Gorelick

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 19 2019, 17:21:18 UTC

Abraham Jacob (Jack) Gorelick passed away Thursday, April 18 in San Leandro, California of cancer

Jack was born on June 16, 1936 in Kansas City, Missouri to Samuel and Pearl Gorelick. Even though born in a hospital in Missouri, he considered himself a Kansas Jayhawk through and through growing up in Kansas City, Kansas and attending the University of Kansas. After graduating KU with a degree in Economics, he married the love of his life, Roberta Phyliss Bogdanoff on October 12, 1958. He then drove to Atlanta to fulfill his obligation to the army. He was honorably discharged from the army after 2 years but he was unable to prove it to the federal government due to the loss of his records in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire.

Returning to the Kansas City area, Jack made his home in Overland Park in a house where he and Roberta raised three children (Paul, Andrea, and Elliott). He worked for his father at the family business (Sam’s Loan Office) while attending UMKC Law School. He was admitted to the Kansas Bar on July 1, 1965 and became an associate at Brown, Koralchik, Fingerish, and Sildon. Upon the death of his father in 1972, Jack left the firm to take over Sam’s Loan Office which he managed until it closed. After Roberta died in 2013, Jack found it difficult to be comfortable in Kansas City and moved to Alameda, California to be close to his son. He checked in to Crown Bay Nursing Home and never checked out due to the the high cost of housing in the area. His independence both delighted and challenged the staff at the nursing home. His excursions away from the facility were remarkable (if not legendary).

Jack enjoyed and pursued diverse interests. He was a firearms enthusiast from a very young age and recalled riding the Kansas City, Kansas city bus with a rifle to go target shooting at the range. He played football at Wyandotte High, but also published an article in Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science “Member Correlation of the Deer Creek Limestone and Tecumseh Shale at the Queen Hill Quarry” as his senior project. He might have become a doctor except for doing poorly in organic chemistry due to the long trips to Lincoln, Nebraska to court Roberta. His connections to Nebraska also included a large family of uncles, aunts, and cousins based in Omaha where he was drawn not only for their company, but also for the excitement of the horse races at Aksarben track; his last trip just weeks before his death in California was to go to the races at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, California. He loved traveling, eating, gambling, debating (“We aren’t arguing; we are just having a discussion”), and reading.

One thing that Jack lived and taught his children was to strive for the best and to be a fierce advocate. He, in partnership with Roberta, was a Boy Scout leader from the time Paul joined Cub Scouts to long past Elliott leaving for college. He made sure that each of his children knew how important education was and that he would do everything in his power to overcome any obstacles to achieving academic goals that they (or his grandchildren) set.

Jack was a great believer in taking a stand, taking a chance and fighting to the end. These principles are how he lived his life from beginning to end.

Abraham Gorelick was predeceased by his loving wife, Roberta (Bogdanoff), of 45 years. He is survived by his sister Sarah Gorelick Ratley, his children - Paul, Andrea Moldo (Rabbi Larry Moldo), and Elliott (Laura Lake), his four grandchildren - Samuel, Naomi, Joseph and Noah and many who loved and cared about him.