From a eulogy at the funeral of Sidney N. Shure by Dr. Nathaniel Stampfer, of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies.
At the age of 16, as the result of studying the Talmudic tract titled The Ethics of the Fathers, Sidney Shure resolved to emulate its teachings. Mr. Shure took seriously these teachings from the Ethics: “Let the honor of another be as dear to you as your own.…If I am for myself alone, of what good am I?…Separate not yourself from the community.… Acquire a teacher for yourself.…Set aside time to study.” His scrupulous honesty, wholehearted loyalty, and dedication to justice and human progress are well known.
His standards of fairness enhanced the self-image of everyone in the workplace. For all his tolerance, he would not tolerate any ethnic, racial, or religious slurs, seeing in them a diminution of the human image. It is no wonder that Shure annually honors members of the workforce who are 30-, 40-, and 50- year veterans.
My friendship with Sidney Shure began at Spertus College [in Chicago] in 1965 in a course in classical Arabic. A sizable body of Jewish literature in Arabic exists, stemming from periods of Jewish sojourn in Moslem lands and Moorish Spain. S.N. wanted to learn Arabic for this reason, and he attended classes early in the day, before going to his office. There is a long list of Erudite Physicians in Jewish scholarship; Sidney Shure could have been termed Erudite Industrialist.
We know that character is not a gift, but an achievement— we realize that the story of Sidney Shure’s life is one of achievement in the fullest sense.
