Northbrook rabbi who headed Lubavitch-Chabad of Illinois dies

Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, the regional director of Lubavitch-Chabad of Illinois who helped to spur the growth of dozens of Chabad-Lubavitch centers in 21 cities across the state, died Tuesday in Chicago, failing to awake following routine surgery, religious officials said with the national headquarters of the Chabad movement said Tuesday night. The Northbrook resident was 59. Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch in Brooklyn, N.Y., said Tuesday in a statement that Moscowitz participated in a three-hour teleconference of the organization's executive board on Monday. He praised Moscowitz for having “succeeded in building a network of 37 thriving Jewish institutions threading through the entire state of Illinois. ... We are stunned at his premature passing. He will be sorely missed.” Moscowitz is survived by his wife, Esther Rochel, and nine children. The funeral is scheduled to take place at Congregation Bnei Ruven in Chicago, 6350 North Whipple, at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Internment will be at Waldheim Cemetery, 1400 Desplaines Ave., Forest Park.