ROHNERT PARK - There will be a memorial service for Dr. Paul Benko, Sonoma State University professor emeritus of biology on December 10, 1998 at 4 p.m. SSU's Warren Auditorium. On October 31, long-time SSU professor and Holocaust survivor Paul V. Benko died of a stroke in his home in Santa Rosa. He was 69. Funeral services were held November 1. He is survived by his son, Peter Benko, daughter, Eleanor Ilus Benko, and his wife, Sandra Robbins Benko.
Benko, born in 1929 in Cluj, Romania, was deported with his family in 1944 to Nazi concentration camps in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau, losing both his parents by the war's end. After barely being rescued by Allied forces from his execution, he was hired as a translator due to his multilingual skills. An American couple who entertained Allied troops adopted him and brought him to New York where he graduated from high school.
Earning his bachelor's degree in 1954 from UC Berkeley, Benko went on to earn a doctorate in comparative biochemistry at UC Davis in 1968. He served on the staff of the California Department of Public Health before coming to Sonoma State in 1970. Benko continued to teach for 22 years until his retirement in 1992. He continued in education as an adjunct instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College.
Throughout his life, Benko was dedicated to educating and helping others. As well as speaking in classrooms about his wartime experiences, Benko helped form the Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust, and SSU's Holocaust Lecture Series and Center for the Study of the Holocaust. He was an active participant in the Sonoma County Survivor Project and Northern California's Holocaust Oral History Project.
Contributions in Dr. Paul Benko's memory can be sent to the Holocaust Study Center, Sonoma State University, M. Goodman, Director, 1801 E. Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park, CA 9492-3609. Make checks payable to: Holocaust Alliance/SSU Foundation. For information, call 664-4296.
