Brig. Gen. Simeon Kobrinetz, USAF (Ret.).

The first rabbi to attain general officer rank, Simeon Kobrinetz, died on September 6, 2011, at Silver Spring, Maryland. He was eighty three. Fittingly, the rabbi was buried September 9, on Chaplain's Hill at Arlington National Cemetery. Rabbi Kobrinetz led the campaign to establish Chaplain's Hill as a memorial to fallen Jewish chaplains. The memorial is currently touring East Coast synagogues, military installations, and civil institutions. It is scheduled for dedication t Arlington on October 24.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was graduated from Columbia University; studied at Yeshiva University; and earned a Ph.D. from the Jewish Technological Seminary. In 1970, after serving as Hillel Director at the University of Florida and the University of Miami, he served as national chaplain of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, including rising to president from 1976-1978. At the time of his death, Kobrietz was also president of the Jewish War Veterans.

Rabbi Kobrinetz is survived by his wife of fifty-two years, Beverly; three children, Nina Multak; David Kobrinetz, and Alisa Chernack; sister, Rita Bassett; and six grandchildren.