William “Bill” B. Lowenstein, 97, of Leawood, Kansas, passed away on July 30.
Funeral services were on Aug. 2 at Congregation Beth Torah, followed by interment at Rose Hill Cemetery.
Bill held a deep belief in the value of the Jewish camping experience for children throughout the Jewish community. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Camp GUCI (guci.org/); Camp OSRUI (osrui.org/donate); Camp Sabra (campsabra.com/support); and the Guardian Society Scholarship Fund (tinyurl.com/3x8hxu3p)
Bill was born on Aug. 13, 1926, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Louis and Gladys (Bobrecker) Lowenstein. He attended Border Star School, Southwest High School and the University of Kansas.
He wanted to get some college before enlisting in the military, so he attended summer school at KU. He enlisted in 1943 and, while in the U.S. Navy, he was stationed in Chicago, where he was enrolled in an electronics program dealing with radar and sonar on naval vessels. He was also stationed in California, Guam and the Eniwetok Atoll.
After World War II, Bill returned to the University of Kansas, where he majored in business and accounting, graduating in 1948. He went to work for Arthur Young & Co. Later, he worked in the family businesses, including the King Lumber Company.
He served as president of the Jewish Community Foundation from 1991 to 1994. He was an honorary member of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say; a lifetime member of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah; and a founding member of Congregation Beth Torah. He also served as chairman/trustee of the Tranin Fund, a trustee for the Lowenstein Brothers Foundation and a trustee of the Lowenstein Family Supporting Foundation.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Louis Lowenstein, Jr. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Epstein Lowenstein; his sons, Lon and Suzy (Overland Park, Kansas), Glenn and Nicole (Houston, Texas), John and Amy (Skokie, Illinois) and Reed and Melanie (Brooklyn, New York); and Jenny and John Isenberg, Lynn and Joe Poskin, and Andy and Anne Epstein; his sister, Marjorie Kaplan (Minneapolis, Minnesota); as well as his 25 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
Online condolences for the family may be left at louismemorialchapel.com.
