If you were lucky enough to meet Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, you never forgot him because you would leave the meeting knowing he had both heard and seen you. Whether you were a member of The Temple, Atlanta’s oldest Jewish congregation, a civil rights worker or a member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, Rabbi Sugarman valued you as a child of God.
“He was so empathetic,” says Jackie Garson Howard, who, like her mother, grew up attending The Temple. “When my parents asked if he was interested in starting a homeless shelter at The Temple, he immediately said yes, and the shelter opened 10 days later. He was warm, and he was always kind.”
Born in Atlanta to Helene Marx Sugarman and Meyer Louis Sugarman, Alvin Marx Sugarman died Jan. 17 at his home in Atlanta. “We have lost the beating heart and soul of our congregation,” said Peter Berg, The Temple’s senior rabbi. “A light has gone out. A benign, gentle presence has departed. We are bereft.”
The Rev. George Wirth, former pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, said Sugarman was one of the spiritual leaders of Atlanta, “and we all benefited from his wisdom and kindness.” Sugarman was the first religious person to contact him when he moved to Atlanta in 1990, and the two became fast friends, renewing a relationship between their congregations that dated from 1929.
“In his interfaith work and witness, he was committed to helping people understand why we need each other, and he taught me how that can be done,” says Wirth. “He was my rabbi.”
An only child, Alvin was 5 years old when his mother died of breast cancer. His father, who suffered from mental illness, reared Alvin as best he could with help from their many relatives, including Aunt Pearl Sugarman, a Christian. She included the boy in her family’s holidays traditions, such as Christmas.
Sugarman graduated from Emory University and worked six years as a traveling salesperson for Montag Brothers, peddling school supplies and paper. After marrying, he and his wife moved to Cincinnati so he could attend Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform movement’s seminary. The Sugarmans returned to Atlanta after his ordination in 1971. He became an assistant rabbi at The Temple and senior rabbi in 1974, and emeritus in 2004.
“Whenever we needed someone to bring a moral voice to the discussion, Rabbi Sugarman was there,” says Dov Wilker, Atlanta director of the American Jewish Committee. “He was the kindest, sweetest person I knew. When he spoke, you felt he was going to shed a tear.”
Sugarman supported civil rights causes. He embraced the LGBTQ+ community, performing one of the first gay weddings. He worked with the late Rep. John Lewis to form the Atlanta Black Jewish Coalition and lobbied in support of renewing the Voting Rights Act of 1982. Sugarman started an annual pulpit exchange with Ebenezer Baptist Church. In addition to the shelter for homeless couples, he worked with the Rev. Joanna Adams to create a shelter for homeless mothers and newborns. He agreed to join the Rotary club only after women had been admitted. And he was instrumental in the creation of Interfaith Atlanta, which promotes understanding, respect and cooperation across the region’s faiths.
In 1987, he accompanied Hosea Williams on his second anti-racist march in Forsyth County. The first had been attacked by white supremacists. Rabbi Steve Lebow, rabbi emeritus of Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta, asked Sugarman if there was something he could do. “He told me just come and be part of this,” Lebow said. “So Rabbi Sugarman was at the front of the march and I was at the end.”
The Monday before he died, Sugarman called his friend, former CNN president Tom Johnson, to say he was moving to hospice. Johnson reminded him that Jimmy Carter lived almost two years on hospice, but Sugarman said he didn’t think he would last that long. Years before, Johnson had recruited him to the visitors board of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He had seen how successful the rabbi was at fundraising. Sure enough, Sugarman raised significant money for M.D. Anderson and for the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University as well, Johnson says.
“Alvin cared so deeply about other people,” says Johnson. “He had the greatest impact on me as a person from the field of religion. And he had an extraordinary sense of humor.” When Johnson told Sugarman he was thinking of converting to Judaism, Sugarman told him, “You don’t want to do that. You’d need a second circumcision.”
Granddaughter Amanda Knock says her “very goofy” grandfather sometimes used a puppet for children’s services, delighted in talking in silly voices and did tricks with his face for little kids. She remembers watching the movie “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” with him and “laughing so hard.” His comedy favorites included Mel Brooks, Laurel and Hardy, Gene Wilder and the Three Stooges. He loved Steve Martin’s movie “The Jerk.”
“I don’t know of anything that made him happier than making people laugh,” Amanda says. His last Facebook post said, “That’s All, Folks!” which was the sign-off for the classic Looney Tunes cartoons.
Her grandfather was able to help officiate at her Nov. 9 wedding, “and that was the last thing he did as a rabbi.”
“All the grandkids got to call and say good-bye to him,” she says. “I was happy about that.”
Alvin Marx Sugarman is survived by his wife of 58 years, Barbara, his children Lanie Kirsch (Greg) and Leah Siegel (Blaine); and grandchildren. The family asks that donations be made to The Temple, Our House or the Marcus Autism Center.
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