Jack Hirschfeld passed away on March 5 in Harford County, Maryland. He was 90. Born in Berlin in 1935, he was uprooted as a toddler, escaping the Nazi regime in 1938 with his father, mother and sister Inge. His family settled in the Bronx. He went to the Bronx High School of Science, was graduated from Bard College and married his first wife Beverly. 

He enlisted in the Army, had two children, Rafael and Erika, and later entered the NYC film industry.  He went on to make science films in Boston and moved back to NYC before his marriage ended. He met his second wife Jan Joltin in a ‘cutting room’ in 1969.

Involved in the anti-war and social justice movement, he joined ‘Newsreel’, a film-making collective, making and showing films that supported ‘movement’ activities. 

Jan and Jack spent their first years together touring in a blue School Bus, bringing these films to churches, college campuses, and other venues. The couple settled in Denver, where Jack worked as a union organizer and joined the Postal Service.  He was one of the first Western visitors to China, invited with a group of Union leaders. The couple moved to the Washington, DC area with their baby daughter, Laila, where Jack made documentary and training films for the Postal Service.  He worked there for the next two decades. 

Jack spent his retirement years in Forestburgh in Sullivan County, NY and later in Harford County, MD, where he and Jan continued to show films, working with various arts and social justice organizations. 

Jack was a fascinating storyteller, a filmmaker, a passionate advocate for films and social justice, a student of Hannah Arendt, and a gifted teacher.   

He is survived by his children Rafael Hirschfeld of Amsterdam, Erika Lester of Taos, NM, Laila Hirschfeld and his wife Jan Hirschfeld, both of Maryland. Those who wish to honor his memory can do so by donating to a community organization that’s important to you, or one of the four he has always supported: HIAS, Doctors Without Borders, the Yiddish Book Center, and National Public Radio.