Rosalee Glass, a Holocaust survivor recognized by President Donald Trump during the White House Hanukkah party, has died following injuries sustained during travel to Washington, D.C.
Glass died in Los Angeles on December 14 of a blood clot to her heart. She was three weeks shy of her 103rd birthday.
She was accidentally dropped while being transported in a wheelchair to a plane in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, on her way to Washington for the White House event, her daughter Lillian Glass on Facebook. Her arm was injured in the fall and swelled up, but a doctor cleared her to fly to Washington the next day.
“We are profoundly honored to be joined this afternoon by Rosalee Glass, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, the darkest chapter of human history,” Trump said at the December 11 Hanukkah party. “After the war, Rosalee came to America and started a drapery manufacturing business. Now she has written a book, starred in an award-winning film and is going strong at the age of 102.
“Where is Rosalee? Where is — hi. You’re looking good,” he continued. “Thank you, Rosalee. Thank you for being here. It’s an honor. And you do — you really fill our hearts with open joy, Rosalee. In honor of Rosalee and the millions of Jews who suffered unthinkable persecution, we renew our pledge now and always: Never again. Never again.”
Glass and her daughter took a photo with Trump at the White House.
Glass was the subject of a 2018 documentary made by her daughter called “Reinventing Rosalee.” She also is the author of “Rosalee Glass: 100 Years of Wisdom to Guide You Thru Life’s Ups and Downs.”
Born Raisla Talerman in 1917 in Warsaw, Poland, Glass started making men’s shirts in her teens. She married her husband at the age of 18, and after a confrontation with a Nazi soldier they escaped to a Russian-controlled part of Poland. Later they were arrested and sent to a prison camp in Siberia. Their young son Elias died in the camps, as did a daughter, Perla.
A son, Manny, survived, and after the war they were sent to a displaced persons camp in Germany. The family immigrated to Miami in 1951.
Glass started her own drapery manufacturing business for three decades. She became an actress at 82, appearing in commercials and in a reality show.
She was predeceased by her husband, Abraham, and her son.