David Schechner

David Schechner, 89, of South Orange, N.J. passed away peacefully on April 12, 2018.
Services were held Sunday, April 15th at Oheb Shalom Congregation, 170 Scotland Rd in South Orange with interment following at the Oheb Shalom Cemetery, 1321 N. Broad St. in Hillside.
Born in Newark, N.J., David grew up in the Weequahic section and spent his summers in Bradley Beach, where he met his future wife, Norma Nurkin, as a teenager. After earning a B.A. from Lafayette College and a J.D. at Harvard Law School in 1953, David married Norma and served in the Army. He was an active and industrious alumnus of Weequahic High School and Lafayette throughout his life.
David was a lawyer’s lawyer and mentor to many. A partner in Schechner & Targan and a member of the ACLU, David took on many civil rights cases pro bono, including those involving children with special needs and the right to protest. He was Village Attorney for South Orange, Essex County’s representative on the N.J. Bar’s Ethics Committee, board president of Orange Memorial Hospital, and a lawyer for the United Synagogue.
A fourth generation descendent of the founding rabbi of Oheb Shalom, David was active in the Jewish community. He was president of his congregation and vice president of the United Synagogue. For more than 25 years he ran a weekly Talmud class out of his law office.
He is survived by Norma, his wife of 64 years, daughter Sara Jane Schechner (Kenneth Launie) of Newton, MA, sons Paul Sheridan Schechner(Amy) of Short Hills and David Sydney Schechner (Lori) of Lexington, MA., and grandchildren Daniel, Alina, Miriam, Jennifer, Naomi, Sheridan Benjamin, Jaime, and Ryan. Also surviving are his brothers Arthur, Richard, and William.
Donations please to The David Schechner Fund at Oheb Shalom. For further details, please call J.L. Apter Memorial Chapels of Maplewood at (973)376-2600.