Westlawn Cemetery
Jewish cemetery in Cook County, Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Westlawn Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in Norridge, a suburb of Chicago in Illinois. The cemetery covers 72 acres (29 ha) and roughly 46,000 people are buried there.
| Westlawn Cemetery | |
|---|---|
| |
 Interactive map of Westlawn Cemetery | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1937[1] |
| Location | Norridge, Illinois |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 41°57′28″N 87°49′38″W[2] |
| Type | Public |
| Style | Jewish cemetery |
| Size | 72 acres (29 ha) |
| No. of interments | 49,000[1] |
| Website | Official website |
| Find a Grave | Westlawn Cemetery |
Notable interments
- Jeffrey Barron, gag writer for Bob Hope, Alan King, Bill Cosby.
- Leonard S. Chess, record company executive[4]
- Virginia Lee Corbin, actress
- Sandy Dvore, artist
- Mike Nussbaum, actor
- Susan Nussbaum, actress and playwright
- Richard Elrod, jurist, sheriff, and legislator
- Jack Ruby, convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, who at the time was under arrest for the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy[5]
(His conviction was later reversed. He died awaiting a new trial, still legally presumed innocent.)[6][7] - Abe Saperstein, creator of the Savoy Big Five, precursor of the Harlem Globetrotters[8]
- Harry Sawyer, Jewish-American organized crime boss based in the Twin Cities, co-conspirator and protector of the Dillinger and Barker-Karpis Gangs.[9]
- Shel Silverstein, poet, author, satirist, and cartoonist[10]
- Gene Siskel, film critic[11]
Vandalism
Westlawn was the site of gravestone desecration in January 2008. At least 57 tombstones were defaced with anti-Semitic slogans. Using white and blue spray paint, the vandal drew swastikas and slurs on tombstones in a western section of the cemetery.
A 21-year-old Polish immigrant male was charged with the crime in February 2008. He has been directly linked by police to a neo-Nazi organization in the Chicago area and he was a member of the National Socialist Movement. He was convicted on two charges of felony vandalism and sentenced to 7 years in prison, the maximum sentence.[12][13]