HEADLINES | 6 SPECIAL SECTION | 14 CYBERSTALKER SENIOR LIFESTYLE ARRESTED Shemer Art Center’s After year of harassment, exhibit celebrates man stands trial local artist JANUARY 8, 2021 | TEVET 24, 5781 | VOLUME 73, NUMBER 8 $1.50 Harvey Dietrich, Jewish community members philanthropist, cautiously optimistic in initial phase of COVID-19 vaccines ‘last Jewish SHANNON LEVITT | MANAGING EDITOR s 2020 drew to a close, Pam Moreno, a therapist cowboy,’ dies of Afor Jewish Family & Children’s Service’s senior programs, found herself looking forward to a much brighter 2021. After discovering she qualified for Phase 1A of the ELLENCOVID-19 O’BRIEN | STAFF WRITER COVID-19 vaccination program, she drove to Chandler arvey Dietrich, a pioneering cattle rancher and a and what appeared to be a football field-sized space Hdriving force for the Jewish community in Arizona, with several rows of cars. The Army National Guard died Dec. 25. He was 85. and various fire departments were assisting as cars Dietrich’s longtime friend, Jerry Lewkowitz, approached the injection stations. She was surprised by described him as “a cowboy rancher and a gentleman.” the orderly nature of the event. Twenty-five minutes “He was a very special guy in so many respects,” after she pulled into line, she was vaccinated and on Lewkowitz said. “He was a good friend in that if you her way home. It was no more painful than a flu shot, want to talk to him, you could, and if he agreed or she said. disagreed, he was the same person.” “Everything was so organized,” she said. “I didn’t Dietrich began working at a meat-packing plant at age even get out of my car.” 15, after his family moved from Boston to Los Angeles. Everyone involved — whether on the giving or At 19, he was promoted to cattle buyer and in 1959, receiving end — was excited and the atmosphere was he moved to Phoenix, where he rose through the ranks joyous, Moreno said. of the cattle industry. After nearly a year of dealing with COVID, as well as A tenacious entrepreneur, Dietrich helped launch the current surge in infections and hospitalizations, she Sun Land Beef Co., which revolutionized the beef feels hopeful for the first time. industry and became one of the largest beef production In Maricopa County alone, nursing homes and companies in the West. After he sold his stake in Sun assisted-living facilities were Lana Susskind-Wilder after receiving her first COVID-19 vaccination Land Beef in 1997, Dietrich devoted himself full-time hit hard. Since March, more SEE VACCINES, PAGE 3 in December. PHOTO BY CHRIS FORD to ranching, which he began as a side business in 1972. Today, his 770,000-acre Diamond A Ranch in Seligman is the largest in Arizona. Minecraft realm becomes “He was basically a self-made man,” said Larry Bell, executive director of the Arizona Jewish Historical venue for Jewish learning Society. “He worked as hard as anybody I’ve ever seen, Congregation Beth Israel’s youth advisor, Erik Rendelman, and you could never go five or 10 minutes without his uses Minecraft to engage students in unique and fun cell phone ringing with something to do with the cattle Jewish lessons. To read more, go to p. 5. and the price of feed and the fall PHOTO BY ERIK RENDELMAN roundup or whatever — he would SEE DIETRICH, PAGE 2 KEEP YOUR EYE ON jewishaz.com NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL ISRAEL House passes bipartisan bill to elevate Azeri Jewish grandmaster wins chess North American olim join 3,000-plus status of US envoy on anti-Semitism championship and $60,000 others who arrived in Israel in 2020 HEADLINES DIETRICH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 always have something business-wise going on.” His legacy in the beef industry includes his fight to remove chemicals, artificial drugs and GMOs from being used in cattle feed and beef production, instead seeking to feed cows a more natural diet. “We keep looking for a better way to make food safer, better, higher quality,” Dietrich said in a video produced by the AZJHS for the 2019 Heritage Award Gala. “That’s a great mission. You help a lot of people.” Dietrich earned numerous awards for his work as a cattleman and a philanthropist. In 2014, the Arizona National Livestock Show honored him as the Arizona Pioneer Stockman; in 2015, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma 2021 Phoenix City honored Dietrich with the Chester A. Reynolds Award for “unwavering commitment to Western principles.” Harvey and Marnie Dietrich supported numerous community Jewish News organizations over the years, including the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, the T-Gen Cancer Research Institute, the Jewish National Print Dates Fund, Hillsdale College, the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival and the Phoenix Art Museum. Harvey also served on the board of directors of AZJHS and Kivel Campus of Care. January 8 August 6* “They’re incredible people in the sense that they value their January 22 August 20 community and they give back to their community,” said Phyllis February 5 August 27 Epner, a friend of the Dietrichs. Harvey Dietrich PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARIZONA JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY AZJHS honored Harvey and his wife Marnie with the 2019 February 19 September 3 Jerry Lewkowitz Heritage Award. Israel presided over the funeral service at Beth El Cemetery on “He was very important as a community philanthropist and Wednesday, Dec. 30. March 5 September 10 supporter,” Bell said. Yet “he was a very quiet and humble guy “Harvey was indeed a man who was larger than life, a man March 12 September 24 who didn’t really desire or demand a lot of recognition for his with an insatiable passion for life itself, an unparalleled work philanthropy.” ethic well into his 80s and a commitment, especially as he grew March 19 October 1 Dietrich’s generosity extended to his friends and colleagues, in wisdom and in years, to learning from his own life,” Kahn March 26 October 15** as well. While he wasn’t able to attend many meetings of the said in his eulogy. AZJHS board of directors, he always brought lunch when he did. “He possessed knowledge and wisdom, even if others didn’t April 2 November 5 “He was giving,” Lewkowitz said. “He was a generous guy.” always like hearing it,” Kahn added. “Harvey required a strong April 16 November 19 In the AZJHS 2019 Heritage Award Gala video presentation, personality to do what he did, with persistence and a commitment Dietrich spoke about the importance of standing up to anti- to the convictions of his own aspirations.” May 7 December 3 Semitism, of doing the right thing and of giving gifts that improve Ultimately, Dietrich’s legacy is inextricable from his love of May 21 December 17 the lives of others. ranching, and his pioneering role in the beef industry in the “The most important thing, for me and the way I look at things, United States. June 4 it’s what you leave in people’s hearts,” Dietrich said. “And the “He was the last of the line,” Bell said. “There were others July 9 *Best of Magazine quality of life, if you have that opportunity to change people’s before him, like Eli Grouskay and Aubrey Grouskay and others as **Annual Directory lives, is extremely important.” well, that were in that business ... I don’t know that there’s any Dietrich is survived by his wife, Marnie, and his two children, that are following him, though. So he may also be remembered WWW.JEWISHAZ.COM Lisa and Steve. Rabbi Stephen Kahn of Congregation Beth as the last Jewish cowboy, although time will tell.” JN OFFICE HOURS 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday HEADLINES ...........................................2 Local 12701 N. 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