Richard Elfers (1966)

My condolences to Deborah and their three children. Harry and I were good friends at Ambassador, being roommates at 360 Grove apartments along with Bill Hughes and others. We both went to Pepperdine to get our masters in history. We both ended up as teachers and writers.

During the chaos of the early 1970s after HWA's wife Loma died, Harry worked in editorial for the Plain Truth and I worked for Herman Hoeh and Roy Schulz. Harry and I would often get together and talk about what was happening behind the scenes among the higher ups on the 4th floor of the Administration building. It was an exciting and disillusioning time. It's where I learned about the abuse of power and hypocrisy firsthand.

Harry and I, along with 48 others, went as students to work at the archaeological dig in Jerusalem the summer of 1969. We met occasionally afterwards while he was working at Jeopardy.

I'm saddened by his death, and have thought about him often over the years. I'm sad that he had a stroke in his later years which limited him and his abilities, which were many.

That's the trouble with getting old. Our friends die all around us, yet we continue on.

With deepest sympathy and fond memories,

Richard H. Elfers

Bob Gerringer (1967)

Jim Lea posted this tribute to Harry on the GMF on August, 6, 2022:
 

Harry Eisenberg—a Man Who Put Honesty above Loyalty

Harry A. Eisenberg, 75, of Glen Rock, New Jersey, passed away August 2, 2022, after a year-long illness.  Harry was one of my best Ambassador College friends.  We were dorm mates during my freshman year at AC (1967-68).  Harry had a massive stroke over 7 years ago, leaving him partially incapacitated.  While you hate to lose a dear friend, I’m glad he is now pain free and happy in the spirit world.

A Man of Principle

I have always known Harry to be a man of principle.  He was a caring, thoughtful, kind, honest individual who was always trying to help others and make them feel welcome.  Harry has often told me how Brian Knowles asked him to research the subject of tithing, saying the Armstrongs hoped to find a biblical reason to extract even more money from their members.  After months of meticulous research, Harry showed Brian his research and said it was 100% clear that tithing was NOT required at all in the Christian church.  This conclusion sent shock waves among the WCG’s top ministers.  To top it off, Harry talked to other church employees about his amazing findings.

At that time Data Processing supervisor Mike Holman had been ordered to run extensive tithe checks on employees by church leaders since they believed a person’s tithing record was an index of his loyalty to the Armstrongs and his conversion to Christ.  Holman found Harry was not tithing.  The fact that Harry was not tithing and also talking about his research led Dr. Robert Kuhn—due to intense pressure from the top—to plead with Olin Degge, who was Harry’s immediate supervisor, to terminate Harry.  Olin flatly refused, saying, “Harry was a highly competent employee who had done excellent work for me.”  Finally, Dr. Kuhn fired Harry himself, giving the reason as “budgetary cutback.”  Read the full gruesome story in the article “Intimidation at Ambassador College—a Case History” by Olin Degge, Ambassador Report #2, p. 23.  See https://hwarmstrong.com/ambassador.report/AmbassadorReport/Ar2/mobile/index.html#p=24.

So here is a perfect case where the WCG’s leadership put loyalty and money BEFORE honesty.  Harry refused lie about the truth about tithing because he was an honest individual and he cared deeply about his fellow Christians in the church.  Because Harry had to courage to stand up for the truth, thousands of WCG members were eventually able to see what the Bible really said about tithing and decide for themselves if they wanted to give their hard-earned money to a bunch of money-hungry liars or keep it for themselves.

Harry Was a Multi-Talented Individual

I worked with Harry for several years when he was on the Plain Truth staff, writing articles about Israel and other pertinent topics.  Harry was called on to ghost-write several articles for Garner Ted Armstrong (GTA), whose busy schedule and affairs with other women apparently didn’t leave any time for him to write his own articles.  Once Harry wrote the article, GTA’s name was attached to the article.

Harry married and had two children, but his wife suddenly told him she didn’t want to be a mother any more, so she left Harry and her two children.  After this occurred, Harry moved to Israel with his children and lived there several years, learning Hebrew fluently.  He kept writing me that he had written a screen play and wanted Hollywood to buy it, but he was having no luck.  I informed him that he’d have a much better chance of selling a screen play if he was in southern California where all the action was—rather than Israel.  So Harry moved back to the U.S. and then to southern California.  As luck would have it, he got an appointment with a movie director at 20^th Century Fox studio.  I drove Harry over to meet the director, but, unfortunately, nothing came of the meeting.

While Harry looked for a job, my wife and I babysat his two children, Danny and Rachelle.  He entered a contest to become a writer for the popular TV quiz show Jeopardy, and he won and was hired.  From 1984 to 1991, Harry served as the head writer and then editorial associate producer in his last three-and-one-half years.  He led the writing team to their first Emmy Award in 1991, his last year with the program.  When he married Debby during this time period, I was honored to be asked to be his best man, which I accepted. 

Harry was upset that Jeopardy was an exceedingly profitable TV program, but its owner refused to pay union wages.  Harry decided to jump ship, move to North Carolina, and sponsor concerts and music festivals, but it didn’t work out as he planned.  In later years, he founded Resume.com and Career Pathfinders, an aptitude-testing service.  He spent seven highly productive years as the history instructor at the Mesivta of North Jersey in Newark, a Jewish high school for boys. 

Looking back on the many good times I spent with Harry over 45 years, I’ll have to say it was an honor to have known him.   —Jim

A few hours later, Jim Lea added the following on the GMF:

The Death of Harry Eisenberg

Gloria (#49090, 8/6/22), you wrote about my post (#49088, 8/6/22) announcing the death of Harry:  “I had no idea he had raised his kids alone.  Do you know where they are today?  I hope they are blessed and thriving!”  Harry raised Danny and Rachelle mostly by himself after his first wife left.  His second wife Deborah helped raise Danny and Rachelle for just a few teenage years.  Debby and Harry also had another child, Alan, which they both raised.

There is an obituary on the GMF that tells a little more about Harry’s life.  To read Harry’s obituary, go to the GMF Home Page and click on Harry’s name under “IN MEMORY SORTED ALPHABETICALLY UPDATES.”  Concerning the location of his three children, the obituary says, “The beloved husband of Deborah Eisenberg of Glen Rock, he [Harry] was a devoted father to sons Daniel Eisenberg of Westfield, NJ, and Alan Eisenberg of Glen Rock, NJ; daughter Rachelle Kebaili, of Port Tobacco, MD, and loving grandfather to Jeremy Eisenberg of Westfield.  I know Danny became a patent attorney at one time, but I don’t know if he is still practicing law.   I hope this answers your questions.  As far as I know, his children are doing fine.    —Jim