Synagogue co-founder dies

Felix Van Beek, a founder of Temple Isaiah in Newport Beach who escaped the Holocaust, has died. He was 97.

Van Beek died Tuesday at his home in Newport Beach. He is survived by his wife, Flory Van Beek.

“He was a charitable person and he came here with nothing,” Flory Van Beek said.

A German native, Felix Van Beek escaped the mass extermination by the Nazi regime of Jewish people, the disabled, the elderly, homosexuals and Gypsies.

As a young man, Felix Van Beek immigrated to Holland and worked as an officer of an import-export grain company. The Van Beeks survived more than five years of occupation in Holland until they got the opportunity to immigrate to the United States in 1948.

In America, life improved for them. The Van Beeks worked hard to survive and were able to build the temple, but they didn’t entirely avoid tragedy in their own lives. The Van Beeks endured the death of their adopted son after he lost a long battle to brain cancer. The temple is named after him.

Temple Isaiah was founded in the 1970s, and it is the second-oldest Jewish temple in the county.

“He was generous, charitable, loved children, loved people, religious, spiritual, loving father, devoted husband,” said Rabbi Marc Rubenstein, who knew Felix Van Beek for 22 years.

Van Beek’s funeral will be at 2:30 p.m. today at the Pacific View Mortuary, 3500 Pacific View Drive, in Corona del Mar.