Obituary of Chaim Rinde

Chaim Rinde passed away Thursday, May 27, 2021, at his home in Claremont, California, with his wife, son and daughter by his side. He was 88. Chaim was born in pre-independence Tel Aviv in 1933, the only son of Meir Rinde and Tsipora Schneider Rinde. He was raised in Givatayim and attended Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. After serving in the Israeli Defense Forces he studied engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa In 1964 he immigrated to the United States, staying initially with relatives in New York and working as an electrician. He moved to California to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he played violin in the university orchestra and earned his bachelors degree in industrial engineering. Chaim met his wife Malka at an Israeli student social group in Los Angeles and they married in 1969. In 1974 he earned his masters in industrial and systems engineering from USC, and the couple moved to Claremont with their two young children. He began his career at Kaiser Steel in Fontana, and then moved to TRW at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, where he worked as an aerospace engineer until his retirement in 2000. Chaim and Malka were members of the Jewish folk music group The Mishpoche in the 1970s and 80s, where he played violin and she sang. He was an avid swimmer, runner, hiker, and cyclist, participating in many races, including century rides, marathons, and climbs of Mt. Whitney, Mount San Antonio, and other trails around the region. He was a member of local hiking and cycling groups, and hiked every Saturday for many years. He was an early, self-taught personal computer enthusiast and an active member and instructor at the Claremont Senior Computer Club. He served on the board of Temple Beth Israel, and was a Commissioner of Traffic and Transportation for the City of Claremont. Family was the center of his life, especially his wife, children, and grandson, as well as his wife’s large extended family in Israel who welcomed him as one of them. He was an enthusiastic storyteller, often recounting favorite episodes from his life to his family, friends, and new acquaintances. He was a voracious reader and had a love of learning throughout his life; in addition to auditing college literature classes, he attended lectures and speaker series, closely followed world news and always had strong opinions he loved to discuss. He is survived by his wife Malka, daughter Jasmine of New York, son Meir and daughter-in-law Mary Ellen of Philadelphia, and grandson Samuel Rinde. A service was held at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier on June 1.