THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190351
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 44 lines
Harold Eisenberg, 82, of the 6000 block of River Road, died Feb. 17, 1997, in a Norfolk hospital.
Mr. Eisenberg was a native of Norfolk. He was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Celia Mirman Eisenberg, and his sister, Frances E. Dorkin. He was a member of Congregation Beth El in Norfolk and was a member of the Brith Sholom Lodge and the Greenbrier Country Club.
Mr. Eisenberg graduated from Maury High School in 1932 and immediately went to work in his family's small grocery store. He attended the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary and served in the United States Army for six years. He is a veteran of World War II. He enlisted as a recruit and rose to the rank of master sergeant in his first year of service to his country. Upon his discharge from the military, he opened his first grocery store on 35th Street in Norfolk.
He was instrumental in forming in 1948 the Economy Stores Inc., a warehouse owned and operated by local independent grocers. In 1950, he, along with his brother Irving and his uncle Taft Mirman, opened the largest independently owned supermarket in the state of Virginia. The Eisenberg and Mirman stores continued to grow into the grocery chain known as Valu Fair Supermarkets Inc., until his retirement in 1981 when the business was sold to the Food Lion supermarkets. Mr. Eisenberg was then able to devote his love and time completely to his wife, his children and his grandchildren.
Mr. Eisenberg was an avid golfer and sports enthusiast.
Survivors include his loving wife of 41 years, Evelyn C. Eisenberg of Norfolk; two daughters, Marlene E. Rossen, her husband, Laurence, of Virginia Beach, and their children Jeffrey and Brandon, and Crystal E. Tetlow, her husband, Bruce, of Richmond and their children, Celia and Nora; two sons, Louis C. Eisenberg and Teresa R. Eisenberg of Norfolk and their children, Nicholas and Elise, and Franklin H. Eisenberg of Norfolk; and his brother, Irving Eisenberg of Norfolk.
A chapel service will be conducted at 1 p.m. February 19, 1997, in H.D. Oliver Funeral Apts., Norfolk, by Rabbi Arthur Ruberg and Cantor Jacob Tessler. Burial will be at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made in lieu of flowers, to Congregation Beth El, Norfolk, or the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, Virginia Beach. H.D. Oliver Funeral Apts., Norfolk, is in charge.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY