By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer

Bertram Brant

Bertram Brant, who served as the first director of Covenant House, from 1972 to 1982, died Oct. 17 at the age of 92. His career in Jewish communal service spanned 35 years.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton hired Brant to plan for the opening and operation of Covenant House, the Miami Valley’s Jewish resident and respite care facility, as a replacement to the Jewish Home for the Aged on Grand Ave.

It was Brant’s initial task to hire staff, create the nursing home’s systems and procedures, and begin the admission process.

Prior to his work in Dayton, Brant served as executive director of Jewish Employment and Vocational Services in Philadelphia, director of the Kansas City Jewish Vocational Service, and JVS in Cleveland.

Born in Montreal, Brant was raised in New York. His family life was surrounded by music. Brant’s father was on the music faculty at McGill University in Montreal.

In 1929, the family moved to New York to encourage the career of Brant’s brother, Henry, as a composer. In 2002, Henry won the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Brant himself played viola, occasionally with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.

During the Depression, Brant’s father died of a heart attack. At age 18, Brant put his education and career on hold, selling records and working for the New York City Welfare Department to support his mother. He received his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York.

Drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps, he took advantage of the GI Bill to pursue his master’s degree at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.

With the JVS in Cleveland, he helped Holocaust survivors adjust to life in the United States.

“Here in Dayton, he literally built Covenant House from the ground up, arriving when the building was under construction and hiring the staff and developing the culture of caring that it is known for,” said his son, Jonathan, during a memorial service for his father on Oct. 26 at Temple Israel.

“He made an effort to personally know most of the residents and their special life stories, which made for a very special bond,” recalled Covenant House Activities Director Janice Kohn. Brant hired Kohn in 1979, when she was 23.

Brant was married to Naomi Yellin Brant from 1944 until her passing in 1976. He married Bernice Ezekiel Brant in 1978. “These last 30 years were Bert’s best years,” Jonathan said.