Rush frontman Geddy Lee is mourning the loss of his mother Mary Weinrib, who died on July 2. She was only weeks shy of her 96th birthday.
“Pushing 96 and still rockin’ out!,” Lee said of his mom in a May 9th Instagram post. In another post last month, the rock star gushed that his mother is “truly an amazing woman” who had a “miraculous life.”
According to an obituary, Weinrib was among the longest living Holocaust survivors. Born in Poland, she was forced to work in the labour camp at a munitions factory in Starachowice before being held in the concentration camps at Auschwitz.
Weinrib was widowed in 1965 and raised three children while running her late husband’s Times Square Discount store in Newmarket, Ont. When Rush’s self-titled debut album was released in 1974, the proud mom gave copies to neighbourhood children who couldn’t afford them.
She appeared with her famous son in the 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage and this year in an episode of Dave Grohl’s U.S. streaming series From Cradle to Stage.
In addition to Lee, Weinrib is survived by daughter Susan and son Allan and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Weinrib's family has asked that donations in her honour be made to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.