HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Seventy-six-year-old Nancy Kress Levin was the mother of 52-year-old Jay Kleiman and 55-year-old Frank “Frankie” Kleiman.
Frank’s wife was 46-year-old Ana Ortiz, and her son was 26-year-old Luis Bermudez.
Each one of them tragically lost their lives in the Surfside condo collapse two weeks ago.
Thursday morning, their grieving family and friends gathered at Temple Sinai of Hollywood to remember their loved ones.
“I’m coming for Ana Ortiz,” said a family member. “That’s my niece.”
“The Lord has everything under control,” they added. “We will see them again.”
Jay Kleiman had been visiting from Puerto Rico to stay with his mother, Nancy, in unit 712 at Champlain Towers South. He was in town to attend the funeral of a friend who had died.
Jay was a musician who had just released several albums months prior to this tragedy, and his mother was an active member of The Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside as well as the Shaare Zedeck Synagogue in San Juan.
Just down the hall on the seventh floor of Champlain Towers South lived his brother, and Nancy’s other son, Frank Kleiman, with his newlywed wife, Ana Ortiz and her son, Luis Bermudez.
Bermudez had muscular dystrophy, and required a wheelchair. His father’s side of the family is planning a memorial for him at a later date.
The outpour of love and support for this family was incredibly visible at the Hollywood memorial service, where cars surrounded the temple and people packed inside.