Roslyn Wiener, a longtime Great Neck resident who co-founded Temple Beth-El’s Black-Jewish dialogue group, died on July 25. She was 75.
“A huge part of who she was, was touching the lives of everyone she came in contact with,” her son Sanduy Wiener said. “She was always a strong voice in our lives while still maintaining many, many strong bonds with families and friends.”
Roslyn Wiener served as a co-chair of the Black-Jewish dialogue at Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, a group whose mission was to unite members of the temple with members of the Mount Olive Baptist Church formerly located in Manhasset.
The group was co-created by Wiener and members of the Baptist church and originally served as a forum for members of the church and temple to discuss current events.
“It started out as a very informal thing just to discuss issues and race relations,” Sanduy Wiener said. “It developed into this annual service that they would have in honor of Martin Luther King. Jr.”
The annual service includes a musical performance by choir members from the temple and the church.
Jane Cohen said Roslyn Wiener “loved singing in the Temple Beth-El choir.”
Cohen, a longtime friend of Roslyn Wiener, said Weiner “looked at everybody for who they were.”
“She had many, many close friends,” Cohen said.
Alan Goldsmith, executive director of Temple Beth-El, called Roslyn Wiener “the epitome of what a human being should strive for.”
“She would go out of her way to help anybody, Jew or Gentile,” Goldsmith said. “She’ll be greatly missed by this community and especially by myself.”
In addition to her work with Temple Beth-El, Wiener worked as a second grade teacher in the Syosset school system and as a volunteer with the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset for 30 years, her son said.
Amy Crutchfield, Roslyn Wiener’s daughter, said she will miss her mother’s daily phone calls and visits.
“It just made your day,” Crutchfield said.
She also said she will miss her mother’s “influence on her grandchildren’s lives.”
Roslyn Wiener was born in Brooklyn and was the oldest of two daughters.
Her family moved to Great Neck when she was a teenager, her son said.
Wiener met her husband Mark Weiner on a blind date. The two were married for 37 years until Mark died in 2000.
In addition to Sanduy Wiener and Amy Crutchfield, Roslyn Wiener is survived by her sister Ellen and four grandchildren.
Reach reporter Anthony O’Reilly by e-mail at aoreilly@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 and on Twitter @ ORiled_Up. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
