David M. Haber

September 20, 1959 to Gladys E. Haber and the late Harold A. Haber in Niagara

Falls, New York, David relocated from Philadelphia to Greensboro in 2011 to be

closer to family who had migrated to North Carolina in chain migration fashion

over the past 20 years.

A graduate of Niagara Falls High School, David participated in science, history

and chess clubs and was business manager of his senior yearbook. Throughout

his youth, he was also active in Jewish youth organizations and became a

regional leader in B’nai Brith Youth Organization (BBYO) of Western and Central

New York. David’s college career at Union College in Schenectady, NY was

interrupted by the onset of paranoid schizophrenia and thus, his planned study of

engineering and business was put on the back burner, never to be re-kindled.

Instead, many of David’s young adult years were spent, as he later mused, “in

the system (of psychiatric in-patient, out-patient and day treatment programs),

that once you get in, it’s hard to get out.” David joined his sister in the

Philadelphia area in 1994. With closer family supervision and the help of one of

the newer psychiatric medications of the time, he began a course of improvement

that culminated in his maintaining a steady job at Seven Eleven and becoming

actively involved in an organization called Tikvah-AJMI. (Tikvah-AJMI is a

grassroots Jewish organization in the Philadelphia area established in 1991 by

parents and medical professionals to improve the quality of life for adults of all

ages with mental illness through Jewishly-oriented social activities and mental

health advocacy.)

In recent years, in Greensboro, David continued to pursue his passions for rock

music, electronics, movies and reading on a broad variety of subjects that

included science fiction, math, science, and Judaism. With his clever technical/

mechanical prowess, David created “Tech with Dave” at Carolina Estates to help

other residents manage problems with their computers, smart phones and other

electronic devices. He also helped as a photographer for activities at Jewish

Family Services and became a regular attendee of services at Beth David

Synagogue.

David will be remembered always for his sweet and gentle manner, keen wit and

willingness to help others. He was a kind soul, content with life and never

complaining, either about opportunities lost due to his mental illness, or during

his final cancer-ridden months. David clearly defied the stereotypes of mental

illness depicted all too frequently by mass media and TV, which are not the reality

of most mental illness. May his legacy, his soft-spoken kindness and shy smile,

serve as a reminder of that fact, and of the value of appropriate diagnosis,

treatment, and family and community support in the setting of mental illness.

David will be horribly missed by his mother, Gladys Haber; his sister, Dr. Michele

Haber and her husband, Dr. Martin Friedman, all of Greensboro; and his brother,

Jeffrey Haber of Sandy, Utah, as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews all

over the country.

Graveside burial services at the Greensboro Hebrew Cemetery will be conducted

by Rabbi Joshua Ben-Gideon of Beth David Synagogue on Wednesday, May 29,

2019 at 3:30 pm.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in David’s memory are encouraged to Tikvah-

AJMI (www.tikvahajmi.weebly.com), the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

(NAMI), and Jewish Family Services of Greensboro.