IRWIN SAGENKAHN

Irwin Sagenkahn, preceded in death by his wife, Sally Lee Schonfeld Sagenkahn, parents Samuel J. and Sophia Weis Sagenkahn and brother Malcolm Lee Sagenkahn, PhD, died Friday evening, August 3, 2018.  He is survived by children, Samuel J. Sagenkahn, New York City, Beth Warren, Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Lee Ellen Brown, Cleveland, Ohio;  grandchildren, triplet boys, Brett, Robert and Samuel Warren and Matthew and Melanie Brown.

He was born on December 10, 1923 at the Wilkes Barre General Hospital. He was a Certified Public Accountant and retired on July 1, 2013.  Prior to starting his own CPA practice in 1973, he was employed by Harry Minkoff, CPA and Laventhol & Horwath, CPA’s.  He was a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and for a number of years, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

He graduated from Forty Fort High School in 1941, Wyoming Seminary Dean School of Business in 1942 and The Pennsylvania State University in June 1948.  At that time he joined his father in Sagenkahn’s Paint and Hardware, Forty Fort until he changed occupations and went into the accounting profession in 1966.

He volunteered on December 1,, 1942 for the United States Army in World War II and served in the Corps of Engineers in the European Theatre of Operations in France, the Pacific Theatre of Operations in the Philippine Islands and in the Army of Occupation in Japan. Upon graduating from Penn State in June 1948, he received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Air Force Reserves.

An avid genealogist since 1990, he has met cousins in Moscow, Russia; Riga, Latvia; South Africa, Israel and found cousins in England and Australia.  He has written some articles that were published in various genealogical journals about his successes in finding cousins literally all over the world.  He is the author of the novel “Coal Dust is White” published in 2012 and a memoir “Letters to Home in Forty Fort” published in 2017,””A Collection of Short Stories and Personal Recollections” published in 2018 and soon to be published book titled “Seven Genealogical Journeys and Eleven Yom Kippur Speeches”.

Mr. Sagenkahn also served on the final Forty Fort School Board before the jointure.  For many years, he was the secretary of the Penn State Club of Wyoming Valley and at one time served as Treasurer of Boy Scout Troop #123, Forty Fort. He also served on the advisory board of the Wilkes Barre campus of Penn State University in the 1970’s.

He was a member of Temple Israel, Wilkes Barre and in July 2014, he moved to Voorhees, New Jersey.

Funeral service will be conducted on Sunday, August 5, 2018, at the Rosenberg Funeral Chapel, Inc. 348 S. River St. Wilkes-Barre at 2:00 pm with Rabbi Larry Kaplan officiating.  Interment will follow in Temple Israel Cemetery, Swoyersville.  

Shiva will be at the Woodlands on Sunday, August 5, 2018 from 7 to 9 pm. 

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