Funeral Home

An 85-year-old rabbi well-known in the Baltimore area's Jewish community has been found guilty of sexually molesting a woman. Rabbi Jacob Aaron Max, who turned 85 Tuesday, is rabbi emeritus and founder of Pikesville's Liberty Jewish Center, also known as the Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation. He had pleaded not guilty in Baltimore County District Court to the two counts on which he was convicted, a fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault. The rabbi fondled the 44-year-old woman's breasts on two occasions minutes apart and murmured that he was "being bad" and was a "bad rabbi" for doing so, according to court documents.

Why do Jewish families bury their loved ones as soon as possible after death? What is the origin for other Jewish traditions, such as sitting in mourning for seven days after the funeral and throwing handfuls of dirt into the grave? Those are all part of the Jewish approach to the mourning process, said Rabbi Maurice Lamm, author of "The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning." Lamm will offer his insights tonight as keynote speaker at the third annual Irvin B. Levinson Memorial Lecture Series on Death, Dying and Bereavement.

Life and death imitate art in Family Plots, a reality TV series premiering tonight on the A&E cable channel. In much the same fashion as HBO's acclaimed Six Feet Under, which takes a fictional look at life inside a family-run funeral home in Southern California, Family Plots takes viewers backstage at the Poway Bernardo Mortuary, a real family-run funeral home in San Diego. Does television really need another reality series - let alone one featuring cadavers, body bags, leaking bodily fluids, caskets and graves?

Amoss, Kenneth On January 30, 2003, KENNETH AMOSS of Pasadena, beloved husband of the late Ruth Amoss, devoted father of Phillip Jachelski, Alice Curnutte, Kenneth Amoss, Frank Jachelski, and the late Ida Phelps and Ruth Davenport, loving grandfather of 11 and great-grandfather of 17 The family will receive visitors in the Singleton Funeral Home, P.A., 1 Second Ave., S.W. (at Crain Highway) Glen Burnie from 2-4 and 7-9 P.M. on Saturday and Sunday. The funeral ceremony will be held on Monday at 11 A.M. in the Funeral Home Chapel.

His victims say Paul Stella was a charmer. Stella was known to treat his customers like gold at his funeral home on Harford Road. Grieving family members usually held no doubt that Stella, gregarious and generous, could be counted on to bury their loved one right. That was before they found out the man was robbing them blind. In a courtroom packed with his embarrassed relatives and enraged former clients, Stella was sentenced yesterday to nearly 4 1/2 years in federal prison for plundering close to $1 million in prepaid funeral accounts for 191 customers.

On October 4, 2005, FRANCIS A. EDWARDS IV of Jarrettsville, MD, loving father of Francis A. Edward V and his wife Leann, Kevin Edwards and Stacy Edwards, devoted grandfather of Justin and Samantha Edwards. Friends may call the family owned EVANS FUNERAL CHAPEL-BEL AIR (corner of Rts 23 & 24, Forest Hill, MD) from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. on Thursday. A funeral service will be held in the funeral home on Friday at 11 A.M. Interment Highview Memorial Gardens. FISHER, beloved husband of Mary Ann Fisher; devoted father of Catherine "Katie" Fisher; loving son of Melvin and Jane Fisher; dear brother of Angela Berlin and the late Cheryl Sweitzer.

On May 2, 2006 JOHN SCHIAVI of Darlington, MD husband of Mindy Schiavi; devoted father of Anthony A. Schiavi and Allison A. Schiavi and his step-daughter Lacy Flinn; loving son of Al Schiavi and Ann G. Kahl Schiavi; brother of Joe A. Schiavi and Lisa A. Schiavi. Also survived by by his grandparents Kenneth and Evelyn Bennington, his Uncle Larry, Aunt Judy Schiavi, Uncle Walter and Aunt Linda Nalbone and many cousins. A Memorial Service will be held at the family owned Mc Comas Funeral Home, P.A., Bel Air, MD on Friday, May 5, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. Friends may call at the funeral home in Bel Air on Friday from 4-6 p.m. Those who desire may contribute to the Children's Education Fund in c/o Schiavi, Wallace & Rowe, 1400 Front Ave., Suite 301, Lutherville, MD 21093.

Thames Street in Fells Point is quieter these days. Michael Sibert, also known as "Screaming Mike," passed away at the age of 53, or maybe he was 57. His age, like his background, remains sketchy. Either way, the man looked 70. The street person died on the street April 4. Two weeks later at St. Stanislaus Cemetery in East Baltimore, Sibert was quietly buried among old headstones of babies who lived only two days, five days, six months. At least Mike Sibert lived 53 or 57 years. "He might have been crazy, but he was our crazy," says Wes Robison, a Fells Point resident.

On May 20, 2006 JOHN JOSEPH III of Woodlawn, husband of Betty Skahill, son of John Joseph Shahill, II and the late Dorothy Hayes Palmisano, father of Heather Davidson and husband Ron, John Joseph IV, Brent and Doug Skahill, brother of Terri Parton and the late Tommy Palmisano. Also survived by five grandchildren. Services from the Fletcher Funeral Home, 254 E. Main St., Westminster on Thursday 11 A.M. Interment in Garrison Forest Veteran Cemetery with military honors. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M.