-Staff Report-
SAN DIEGO — Anne Frances Ratner, one of the matriarchs of San Diego’s Jewish community, was eulogized Friday, Nov. 11, at a crowded service at Tifereth Israel Synagogue on Friday–her 100 years lauded as having been filled with leadership, philanthropy and devotion to family.
Ratner, who died Wednesday, Nov. 9, helped to start the women’s division of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County and the Sisterhood of Tifereth Israel, a Conservative synagogue. With her late husband, Abe, longtime owner of Ratner Clothing Company, she endowed the congregation’s Abraham Ratner Torah School and its scholar-in-residence program, and donated a Torah. She also was a supporter of Jewish Family Service as well as the San Diego Hebrew Homes.
In addition to her Jewish communal interests, Anne Ratner was a founding member of the women’s auxiliary of the Salk Institute, was a member of the executive committee of the San Diego Symphony, was an honoree with Abe of Meals and Wheels, and was the Woman of Elegance in 1968 for the Salvation Army. In 1995 she donated funds to honor her late husband to create the 3,000-square foot Abraham Ratner Children’s Eye Center. She will be honored posthumously on Nov. 19 by UCSD when the school awards the Chancellor’s Medal of Honor.
In his eulogy, Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal likened Anne Ratner to Miriam of the Bible, saying that without Miriam, “there would have been no Moses and no Exodus.” She safeguarded Moses as a baby, helped her parents, and was a caretaker to the entire Jewish people. Similarly, Anne Ratner “led by deed and by example and her righteous deeds were a well spring of life for Jews and non Jews.”
The rabbi said Ratner was beautiful, elegant, well-read, well-spoken, and never unwilling to speak her mind. He quoted family members as telling him that her generosity was not limited to major causes. “Almost anyone who sent her an envelope to request her help for a noble cause received a contribution from her in response.”
Daughter of Sam and Ethel Moder who were pioneer members of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Anne was one of four sisters. Her siblings included Bea, who pre-deceased her, and Frieda and Pearl, who are blessed with longevity. Abe Ratner once espied Anne on a street car, and smitten, he asked his sister to arrange for the two of them to meet. They were married for 61 years.
Their children were Pauline Foster, who would grow to serve as a president of the Jewish Federation of San Diego, and Sanford, who predeceased Anne this year. Pauline married Stanley Foster, who also served as a president of the Jewish Federation, and Sanford married Laurayne. She had seven grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
The rabbi said “although Anne was not particularly ritually observant, she was a deeply spiritual and religious person, with a deeply seated belief in God. … She was profoundly Jewish. She cared about the Jewish community and about Israel and about Jewish continuity. She also knew that Judaism demands that Jews care not only about other Jews, but about all human beings.”
The family suggested donations in her memory be made to Tifereth Israel Synagogue or the Ratner’s Children’s Eye Center at UCSD.
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Preceding culled from a family-written obituary and Rabbi Rosenthal’s eulogy.