Barney Sidler

Barney Sidler (Ajszyndler) passed away peacefully on December 10, 2025. Beloved husband of the late Anita (Zussman) Sidler; loving father of Sheri (Sheldon) Fluke, Gayle (David) Bernhaut and Lisa (Michael) Lippe; and wonderful Zayde to Ross (Sichen), Margo, Zachary, Dana, Stacie, Isaac, Rebecca, Roya and Nathaniel. Beloved by extended family members and friends. Barney (Beniek), born in Deblin, Poland, was a Holocaust survivor who survived a ghetto, a labor camp and Buchenwald Concentration Camp. He was liberated April 1945 at the age of 12. He came to the US, through Ellis Island, with his brother Allen in 1949. Through the efforts of HIAS he was reunited with his Uncle Aaron who resided in Chicago, IL. Barney worked in a blind factory, a delicatessen slicing lox and apprenticed as an electrician. After much hard work he became a master electrician. Along the way he earned a GED. After falling off a twenty-foot scaffold, he decided to change careers and became an insurance salesman. Eventually he opened a successful insurance agency and continued to sell insurance well into his late eighties. As a proud Holocaust survivor, Barney was happy to share his survival story at the Illinois Holocaust Museum, numerous schools and various houses of worship. Barney was extremely blessed to travel the world with his wife Anita and to take his entire family on multiple cruises in the Caribbean. Some of his hobbies included playing cards, visiting casinos, snow-birding in Boca Raton, and being an avid Bears fan!

Funeral service Sunday, December 14, 11AM at Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home, 111 Skokie Blvd, Wilmette, IL 60091. Service will be livestreamed. Interment Shalom Memorial Park. Shiva will follow the interment until 7PM at Max & Benny's, 461 Waukegan Rd, Northbrook, IL 60062.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Barney and Anita Sidler Educational Endowment at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie, IL 60077, please call Cassandra Londo at 847-967-4881.