The New York Times · 12 October 1985

CP-1985-018

Aged Victim, Portrayed as Helpless, Is Recalled as a Strong, Happy Man

By SARA RIMER

Scan 680 × 1172 pixels

Transcribed from the clipping

Leon Klinghoffer has become known around the world as the frail, elderly American shot to death in his wheelchair and thrown overboard from an Italian cruise ship in the Mediterranean.

But yesterday, as they awaited the arrival of his widow in the Manhattan apartment where so much had been shared, his daughters and other relatives talked about the Leon Klinghoffer who was most of all a strong family man.

“He was a contented, happy man,” said his mother-in-law, Rose Windwehr, who met him 40 years ago when her nephew brought him to dinner at her home in East Orange, N.J. “He loved his friends and family.” Gathered together at 70 East 10th Street, Mrs. Windwehr and Mr.

Klinghoffer’s daughters — Ilsa, 28 years old, and Lisa, 34 — and the others consoled themselves by remembering, not how Leon Klinghoffer had died but how he had lived. They looked at photographs of him and his wife Marilyn and the children, and they laughed at small memories, like his fondness for the television show “Dynasty.”

“He was addicted to ‘Dynasty,’” Lisa said. “Joan Collins — wow!” Lisa, an artist whose oil paintings fill the apartment, remembered how her father encouraged her during a difficult period in her career. “A couple of weeks ago — and I’ll never forget this — he sat me down,” she said.

“He said, ‘Lisa, you have to have faith in yourself. It’s going to happen for you.’”

Cite this clipping

More from The New York Times

• The Maine Colony in PalestineThe New York Times · 12 November 1866
• Jewish Colonization in PalestineThe New York Times · 9 December 1883
• Jewish State in Palestine OpposedThe New York Times · 9 July 1897
• ZIONIST CONGRESS IN BASELThe New York Times · 31 August 1897
• ROME FEARS THE ZIONISTSThe New York Times · 12 September 1897
• PROGRESS OF ZIONISMThe New York Times · 16 December 1901
• 852 more from this paper in the full text →

More from the 1980s

• Northern Border Secured, Says Israeli EnvoyThe Arizona Republic · 3 February 1985
• U.S. says murdered Palestinian symbolizes peace dangersBroken Arrow Ledger · 20 March 1985
• Israel Said to Seize Control Over 52% Of West Bank LandThe New York Times · 1 April 1985
• PLO Propaganda Offensive Becomes Intense in ArgentinaSt. Louis Jewish Light · 17 April 1985
• Lebanese militia fighters exchange machine-gun fireTalahasee Democrat · 23 June 1985
• No Travel Permits to U.N. ConferenceTelegram & Gazette · 10 July 1985
• All 527 clippings from the 1980s →