It was very important to Jon to give back to the community. Throughout his 20-year tenure as a HUI tenant, Jon took great pride in his role as a HUI public education paid intern and proudly represented HUI at housing and mental health resource fairs. He also spoke movingly to community groups—including many school and religious school youth groups—about the importance of his HUI housing and his journey of mental health recovery.
Jon particularly wanted young people to understand the harm that can be caused by bullying. He spoke candidly about his own very painful experience with bullying and challenged the students to swiftly intervene and prevent any bullying in their classroom. At the end of all of his presentations, Jon loved to invite the audience to test his encyclopedic knowledge of sports trivia. He fielded any and all questions but no one was ever able to stump him. He pitched a perfect game.
Since Jon’s passing, all of us at HUI are feeling his loss deeply. We are touched and grateful for the outpouring of financial support and appreciation of HUI from Jon’s family and friends. Rabbi Judy Brazen, Jon's sister-in-law, shared with the HUI staff: “Thank you for valuing and respecting Jon in a way that brought the best parts of him out." Rabbi Judy added, “You paid attention to what was most important to him."
We will truly miss Jon Pine. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his mother, Rhoda Zucker Pine; siblings, Dr. Daniel Pine (Rabbi Judy Brazen) and Rabbi Debbie Pine (Rabbi Andrew Busch); and his nieces and nephews, Jacob Pine, Abigail Pine, Ezra Pine, Johanna Busch (Jacob Goldman), Ben Busch, and Ethan Busch.
