Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Pittsburgh Victims Cecil And David Rosenthal Were Brothers Bound By Love

Brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal were named Sunday as two of the victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue the day before.

Cecil, 59, “was kind of a fixture in our community,” Rabbi Seth Adelson of nearby Congregation Beth Shalom told the Forward.

Cecil and his brother David, 54, lived together in an apartment in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. They were both mentally challenged, a friend told the Pittsburgh Tribune.

Cecil “was really a shul guy. He loved synagogue,” Adelson said. Although Cecil was a regular greeter at Tree of Life, he would also pray at Beth Shalom in the evenings.

Adelson said he had just spoken on Thursday with Cecil, who was returning a beginners’ Hebrew textbook he had borrowed. “He was just a real sweetheart of a guy,” Adelson said.

The Rosenthals were mourned by ACHIEVA, a local disability group that worked with them.

“Cecil’s laugh was infectious. David was so kind and had such a gentle spirit. Together, they looked out for one another,” ACHIEVA vice president Chris Schopf told the Tribune. “They were inseparable. Most of all, they were kind, good people with a strong faith and respect for everyone around.”

The Rosenthal’s neighbor, Raye Coffey, also had praise for the brothers.

“Cecil was always a big brother. He was very warm and very loving. Whenever he would see us, he would always say, ‘Hi, Coffeys!’

“David was quieter. But both were … to die like this is horrendous.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.