William Eisner Obituary

William (Wilhelm) Eisner, 92, of Rockville, Maryland, passed peacefully on July 2, 2025 in the comfort of his home and surrounded by loved ones. His reserve and modesty concealed a turbulent and remarkable childhood. "Bill", as he was known to friends and family, was born in Vienna, Austria on May 18, 1933, the only child of Mina (nee Uminsky) and Nathan (Nachman) Eisner. The family trio were among the last Jews to escape Austria after the Nazi annexation, making their way with only the clothes on their back to Shanghai, China, where they survived with a small Jewish diaspora until 1948. (Bill's journey is memorialized in the 2017 documentary "Above the Drowning Sea," and his self-published autobiography, "A Shanghai Odyssey and Beyond".) They finally left China in 1948 after the Communists seized power. After stops in Israel and Italy, the family landed in Brooklyn. At the age of seventeen, the well-traveled Holocaust survivor Bill had no transcript but used his wits and fluency in English, Hebrew and German to obtain a high school diploma from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn in a single semester. He attended Brooklyn College, where he starred on their lauded soccer team as a halfback, and thereafter Fordham Law School, where he distinguished himself on The Law Review. Summers were spent as a counselor at Camp Birchwood in Torrington, Connecticut, where Group Leader Bill met and fell in love with a junior counselor from East Flatbush named Roslyn Lestz. The newylweds' first port of call was Fort Knox, Kentucky, where the recently commissioned Bill was a member of the J.A.G., rising to the level of Captain and Staff Judge Advocate (S.J.A.) and earning multiple citations, including the Army Commendation Medal. After his military service, Bill and his young bride moved to New Jersey, where they raised three sons in Midland Park and Wyckoff, with Bergen County proving a blessedly calm suburban oasis for Bill. He spent decades working as a much-respected vice-president and general counsel for the defense contractor Federal Electric Services, a subsidiary of what was then ITT Corporation, eventually following the company to Colorado Springs for a decade, before retiring and relocating to Rockville, Maryland. Bill loved America, the country that gave him and his family sanctuary and opportunity, the practice of law, the warmth of Florida, the wit of Winston Churchill, the New York Yankees (Mickey Mantle), "Casablanca" and "Red River", books (biographies and histories, the thicker the better), Bridge, tennis, swimming, veal schnitzel and sacher torte, and most of all his admiring friends and adoring family. He is survived by Ros, his devoted and beloved wife of 66 years; sons David, Keith and Jonathan, all of whom he lived to see happily married with children of their own; doting daughters-in-law Nancy (nee Gordon), Dara (nee Grundfast) and Allison (nee Chase); and grandchildren Nicole, Dylan, Alex, Scarlett, Wyatt, Emmett and Landon. For each of them, his loyalty, abiding decency, and the constancy of his love will forever be a beacon. A funeral will be held at Judean Memorial Gardens on 16225 Batchellors Forest Road in Olney, Maryland on Sunday, July 6 at 10 a.m. Details of his shiva are available on request. Condolences can also be shared with the family at [email protected]. In lieu of flowers or gifts, donations can be made in Bill's honor to Alzheimer's Foundation of America. https://alzfdn.org