Eli Auster

Funeral Service will be held on September 8, 2025 at 11:00 am at Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels, 44 Wilson Avenue 527N, Manalapan, NJ.

Committal Service will be held on September 8, 2025 at 2:30 pm at Beth Moses Cemetery, 1500 Wellwood Ave, West Babylon, NY.

Eli, his older brother Paul and his mother Leah, fled the Nazis and arrived by ship to New York in the US in 1940. Eli and his brother grew up in Brooklyn.

He met his wife (and his rock), Rosalie, at the summer camp they both worked at and they married in 1961. Together, they started a family in Queens before moving to New Jersey in 1970. Eli took great joy in his family, coaching his son Mitchell’s little league baseball teams and daughter Lara’s soccer teams. Later in life he was a constant at his granddaughter’s - Ariana, Alessandra, Ashleigh, Julianna and Kaitlynn’s - dance & music recitals, soccer games, honors and other celebrations.

As a Brooklynite, Eli developed a lifelong love of the Dodgers, culminating in his week participating at the Dodgers Adult Baseball Camp in 2008 where he met some of his boyhood idols such as Maury Wills and George “Shotgun” Shuba whom he regaled with stories that made him the toast of the camp.

Another passion was nature - growing flowers and admiring the butterflies and hummingbirds they'd attract; searching for turtles by the lakes and even raising a few, including Teddy Franklin Snapper III; and proudly identifying the flora and fauna we’d happen upon on vacations.

And he was always the life of the party - spinning yarns and jokes (and his wife or their friends on the dance floor) or playing a few tunes on the harmonica. While he couldn’t read music, he could play any song just by listening to it a couple of times.

Eli had a real zest for life and will be greatly missed. He is survived by his wife, children (and their spouses Verónica and Chris) and his granddaughters.

Shiva will be held on September 8, 2025 at 6:00 - 8:00pm, September 9, 2025 at 6:00 - 8:00pm and September 10, 2025 at 1:00 - 4:00pm and 6:00 - 8:00pm at Rosalie Auster's home at 19 Chamber Lane, Columbus, NJ 08022.

Donations in Eli Auster's memory can be made to the Henry Riklis Holocaust Memorial Committee (33 Evergreen Terrace, Monroe Twp., NJ 08831).