Oral Histories

Rabbi Elisar Admon was a teacher at the Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh and a member of the Gesher Chaim Shel Emes chevra kadisha (burial society) at the time of the October 27 attack.

Meryl Kirshner Ainsman (b. 1954) was chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh board of directors at the time of the October 27 attack.

Leslie Aizenman was director of refugee services at JFCS-Pittsburgh, also known as Jewish Family and Community Services, at the time of the October 27, 2018 attack.

Lauren Apter Bairnsfather, Ph.D. is the director at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

Rev. Liddy Barlow was the executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwestern Pennsylvania and a pastor in the United Church of Christ at the time of the October 27 attack.

Carol Black is a member of New Light Congregation, a survivor of the October 27 attack, and a sister of Richard Gottfried, who was one of the 11 people killed in the attack.

Kathleen Blee is the Bettye J. and Ralph E. Bailey Dean in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and a member of Congregation Dor Hadash. 

Zack Block was executive director of Repair the World Pittsburgh at the time of the October 27 attack. 

Shawn Brokos is the Director of Jewish Community Security at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and was a Crisis Management Coordinator at Federal Bureau of Investigations Pittsburgh’s field office during the October 27 attack.

Victoria Butch is a Community Resource Officer for Pittsburgh Police Department Zone 4 and was one of the first responders at the October 27 attack.

Nina Butler is an educator who is active in several Jewish community organizations called upon to address local needs in the immediate aftermath of the October 27 attack. 

Rev. Dr. Darryl Canady is the senior pastor of Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly Black church in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Walter Daniel “Wally” Caplan was raised in Jeannette, PA. in Westmoreland County and has lived most of his life in Greenberg, PA. aside from his college years at Penn State University.

Rosalind Chow is a professor of Organizational Behavior at Carnegie Mellon University and was director of its Executive Leadership Academy at the time of the October 27 attack.

Anna Coufal is a lifelong member of Congregation Dor Hadash and was a teacher in the Dor Hadash Religious School at the time of the October 27 attack.

Tim Crosson is a religion teacher at Serra Catholic High School in McKeesport, PA and a participant in the Catholic-Jewish Education Enrichment Program in Western Pennsylvania.

Upendra Dahal is a political refugee from Bhutan and was project director for the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh at the time of the October 27 attack.

Sister Gemma Del Duca is founder of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education and was a Sister of Charity at Seton HIll University at the time of the October 27 attack. 

Sister Gemma Del Duca is founder of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education and was a Sister of Charity at Seton HIll University at the time of the October 27 attack. 

Lenora “Lee” Dingus is an artist based in Western Pennsylvania, an advocate for Native American affairs, and co-founder of the cultural resource “Echoes of the Four Directions.”

Harry “Hershey” Dugan is a businessman with experience in various fields, including sales, small businesses, real estate, and the law. He is a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh.  

Rabbi Doris Dyen is a rabbi and chaplain, a member of Congregation Dor Hadash, and spiritual leader of the independent havurah (prayer group) Makom HaLev. She was one of the people on the grounds of the Tree of Life synagogue at the time of the October 27 attack.

Kathryn Fleisher is executive director of the non-profit Not My Generation, which she founded as a University of Pittsburgh student in response to the October 27 attack.

Charlene Foggie-Barnett is community archivist for the Teenie Harris Archive at the Carnegie Museum of Art and daughter of a prominent Civil Rights family in Pittsburgh.

Ira Frank is the owner of a family business selling linens to institutional customers and a communal worker active in many Jewish organizations throughout Pittsburgh. 

Martin S. “Marty” Gaynor is the E. J. Barone University Professor Of Economics And Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and a survivor of the October 27 attack.

Josiah Gilliam is a Special Initiatives Coordinator for the City of Pittsburgh. 

Gilliam previously served as the coordinator of My Brother's Keeper. He was also a program manager for My Brother's Keeper through his role at the Homewood Children's Village, where he served as the web and digital communications manager and special assistant to the CEO. 

Audrey Glickman is a member of Tree of Life Congregation and survivor of the October 27 attack.

Jess Gold is an activist and community-based educator in Pittsburgh.

Cindy Goodman-Leib was the executive director of the Jewish Assistance Fund and chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Pittsburgh at the time of the October 27 attack.

Rabbi Keren Gorban was Associate Rabbi of Temple Sinai in Pittsburgh at the time of the October 27 attack and led a “Honeymoon Israel” trip in the weeks after the attack.

Clara Joy Gourley was a student at Redbank Valley High School in New Bethlehem, Pa. at the time of the October 27 attack and had recently taken an elective course on the Holocaust.

Rabbi Amy Greenbaum was associate rabbi and education director at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills in suburban Pittsburgh at the time of the October 27 attack.

Merris Groff was a Jewish community worker at the time of the October 27 attack.

Groff grew up in a large family in Tiberias, Israel. In her oral history, she describes her upbringing as secular but infused with the culture and traditions of Jewish life, including keeping a kosher home and regularly attending synagogue. She came to Pittsburgh in 1990 when her husband started a residency program in the city.

Reverend Natalie Hall is Canon for Faith Formation and Evangelism with the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Natalie Hall was ordained a Lutheran pastor in September 2009 after receiving a dual Masters degrees in Systematic Theology and Divinity from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, MN. Upon graduating from seminary, she was assigned to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of Pittsburgh, where she has served two congregations. At the time of her interview, she resided in Edgewood with her husband and three children. 

Marlene Haus is a longtime member of Tree of Life Congregation and, at the time of the October 27 attack, had been one of the regular “Morning Minyanaires” who attend the daily prayer service each morning, as well as on the Sabbath and on Jewish holidays.

Dan Leger is a nurse, chaplain, and survivor of the October 27 attack. 

Leger received his nursing degree from the Community College of Allegheny County. He worked at the Children’s Institute as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and was later a Pediatric Nurse at the Neurosurgical Department of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Later in his career, he became a hospital chaplain.

Alan Mallinger is a son of Rose Mallinger, who was killed in the October 27 attack, a brother of Andrea Wedner, who was injured in the attack, and a member of Tree of Life Congregation.

Rabbi Jermey Markiz was a spiritual leader at Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill and was celebrating his wedding in Los Angeles at the time of the October 27 attack. 

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers is spiritual leader of Tree of Life Congregation and a survivor of the October 27 attack.

August “Augie” Siriano is a life-long resident of the Pittsburgh area. He is the longtime custodian at Tree of Life Congregation and a survivor of the October 27 attack. 

Andrea Wedner is a lifelong member of Tree of Life Congregation, a survivor of the October 27 attack, and the daughter of Rose Mallinger, who was killed in the attack.

Steve Weiss was the ritual director at Tree of Life and a science teacher in Pittsburgh Public Schools at the time of the October 27 attack.

Barry Werber is a member of New Light Congregation and survivor of the October 27 attack.