Sam Harris, Holocaust survivor who was driving force behind creation of Illinois Holocaust Museum, dies at 90

It's ironic that Sam Harris became a key driving force in creating the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie because for a very long time he didn't want to discuss his experience as a survivor.

Mr. Harris, who came to the United States after World War II and became a successful insurance executive, didn't want people to feel sorry for him. And if he did well in life, he wanted it to be because of who he was, not because of what happened to him, Mr. Harris, a longtime Rotary Club member, told Rotary magazine in 2024.

His wife, Dede, first got him to open up about his experience. Then, in 1977, a fellow Rotary member, Rabbi William Frankel, convinced Mr. Harris it was time to share his story more widely. Frankel pointed to a planned neo-Nazi march in Skokie and a Northwestern University professor who had written a book claiming the Holocaust was a myth.

Mr. Harris came around and sat in the quiet of Frankel's basement for a videotaped interview.

In 1981, a group of survivors who came together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois opened an education center in a small storefront on Main Street in Skokie that was dedicated to teaching the public about the horrors of the Holocaust.

Around the year 2000, Mr. Harris walked into the storefront to have a look around and introduced himself to the staff as a Holocaust survivor, but they were skeptical because he seemed too young. He explained that he was 4 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland.

Fellow survivor Lisa Derman, who was on the foundation's board, soon became friends with Mr. Harris.

She and Mr. Harris knew their effort wasn't reaching enough people and envisioned a proper museum with the space and technology to tell the story of the Holocaust.

Derman tapped Mr. Harris to help get the museum off the ground. Not long after, Derman suffered a fatal heart attack in 2002 while giving a talk about her Holocaust experience. Her death left Mr. Harris even more passionate about carrying out their mission.

"Sam jumped in and led the effort to secure [future Gov.] JB Pritzker's support and get him to chair our capital campaign to build the museum," said Kelly Szany, the museum's senior vice president of education and exhibitions.

"You could not say 'no' to Sam. He just had this genuineness about him that was truly authentic and warm, and he balanced it with humor but knew the moments he needed to be serious and get down to business," she said. "He really made you feel like the museum was a moral imperative and a responsibility not only for the present but for the future."

The Skokie museum opened in April of 2009 with former President Bill Clinton and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel in attendance. Nearly 200,000 people visit the museum annually.

"He stood up," explained friend and museum board member Howard J. Swibel. "Sam was one of the people who was very concerned about who was going to carry the torch after the survivors passed from the scene."

Mr. Harris died in Naples, Florida, on April 1 from natural causes. He was 90.

The museum had about 80 Holocaust survivors in its Speakers Bureau when it opened. It currently has 13, said Szany, who added that it's estimated there are as many as 200,000 living survivors around the globe, with about 1,000 in the Chicago area, who hail mostly from Eastern Europe.

Pritzker, in a series of social media posts, said, "I am heartbroken by the passing of my good friend Sam Harris. ... His spirit will continue to live on in the lives that he touched and in the kinder, more inclusive world he helped create."

Mr. Harris, who served as president of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, spoke to thousands of young people during visits to schools and various groups that requested he share his story.

"He got better and more comfortable speaking about it, but it was always difficult because it took him right back to that place," his wife said.

He told audiences that after the Nazis showed up in his small town in Poland, his family was forced into a ghetto and later sent to concentration camps. Mr. Harris, the youngest of seven siblings, survived the war with his two sisters, Sara and Rosa.

Sara was two years older than Mr. Harris. The two younger siblings stayed under the wing of their teenage sister, Rosa, who helped hide them at two separate concentration camps before soldiers from the Soviet Union arrived and liberated their camp.

His parents and four of his siblings were killed during the Holocaust. Following the war, Mr. Harris made his way to the United States, where he was adopted by the Harris family in Northbrook, attended New Trier High School and studied political science at Grinnell College.

Mr. Harris wrote a book that was published in 2011, "Sammy: Child Survivor of the Holocaust."

Mr. Harris loved cigars, playing chess and rooting for the Chicago Bulls, but his greatest passion was his family. In addition to his wife, Mr. Harris is survived by his daughter, Julie Kreamer; his son-in-law, Jeff Kreamer; and grandchildren Jeremy and Jessica Kreamer. He is predeceased by his son, David Harris.

The family is planning a service.