(Tribune News Service) — America has lost one of its great patriots.

Guy Stern, director of the International Institute of the Righteous at The Zekelman Holocaust Center (The HC) and Holocaust survivor, whose contributions as a United States intelligence officer helped to defeat Nazi Germany, has died. Funeral services for the decorated war hero were held Dec. 8 at the Great Lakes National Military Cemetery in Holly, according to a news release from The HC.

He would have celebrated his 102nd birthday in January.

Described as a pillar in the community, Stern joined the board of directors in 1987, served on advisory committees and assumed the role of interim executive director after its founder Rabbi Charles Rosenzweig died in 2008.

He is also one of the last surviving Ritchie Boys, a term used for U.S. soldiers who trained at Camp Ritchie.

According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum military instructors taught intelligence-gathering collections and analysis to approximately 20,000 soldiers. Several thousand of these soldiers were Jewish refugees such as Stern, who immigrated to the U.S. from Europe to escape Nazi persecution.

Gunther Stern, as he was named by his parents, was born in Hildesheim, Germany in 1922. He is the only member of his family to escape the Nazis, although it was long after he traveled to America as a 15-year-old teenager hoping to secure sponsorship for his parents and siblings that he learned of their demise.

In 1943, after becoming an American citizen he was drafted into the Army and sent to Camp Ritchie where he was trained to serve as an intelligence noncommissioned officer. As bilingual and skilled negotiators, he and his band of other enlisted men known as the Ritchie Boys interrogated German Prisoners of War, gaining their confidence and securing vital information for the allies. Sixty-percent of the intelligence gathered in Europe during WWII has been credited to the work of the Ritchie Boys. The Army also presented Master Sgt. Stern with a bronze star for his innovative methods in extracting information from German POWs.

“Guy’s contribution to the Allied war effort is a well-studied and established fact. He and the other Ritchie Boys were instrumental in the outcome of the war,” Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of The HC said. “He is a true hero in every sense of the word. Truly, Guy Stern was a national treasure, and he will be greatly missed.”

As a civilian, Stern enjoyed a distinguished career in education. He earned his PhD in German literature from Columbia University, served as Senior Vice President and Provost at Wayne State University and Graduate Dean for the University of Cincinnati. He also taught at Ohio’s Denison University, University of Maryland, and received five guest professorships in Germany.

He published numerous papers and books, including his memoir, “Invisible Ink.”

“The United States, to put it simply, saved my life. Without allowing me to arrive at its shores, I would have been on the train taking me to perdition as was the fate of my immediate and extended family,” Stern wrote in his memoir. “To put my thankfulness in one sentence: I became an American patriot.”

His contributions to the country were also featured in Ken Burns “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” a six-hour documentary on America’s response to the war in Europe.

After he retired from his academic positions Stern dedicated his time to various positions at The Zekelman Holocaust Center, while meeting requests to speak at conferences and universities around the world.

“Guy was such an important part of not just The HC but of the entire understanding we have of the war, what was done to win, its significance and the importance of education to prevent recurrence,” said Alan Zekelman, executive member of The HC’s board of directors. “There is no question that his work in this world was important, will be remembered and that we are all blessed because of him. He will be incredibly missed.”

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