Bertie Lubner to be buried today
JOBURG – The late Dr Bertram 'Bertie' Lubner, who died on 18 April, will be buried today at the West Park Cemetery, Montgomery Park, Randburg.
More tributes are pouring in for the late Dr Bertram ‘Bertie’ Lubner who died in the early morning of 18 April and will be buried on 20 April at 2pm at the West Park Cemetery, Montgomery Park, Randburg.
One of the charity organisations he founded and which carried out a lot of amazing work in Alexandra, along with Alex philanthropist, Linda Twala of Phuthaditjaba Qoqizizwe Centre on 16th Avenue, sent a moving tribute to the late ‘outstanding human being’.
“Afrika Tikkun also joins in with the Lubner family in mourning the passing of Bertie Lubner, a remarkable and beloved friend of South Africa, and indeed humanity,” a statement from the charity said.
Lubner is formerly a joint chairman and chief executive officer of Plate Glass and Shatterprufe Industries; chairman of the Lubner Group of Companies; and director of PGSI International and PG Glass South Africa.
He was also vice chairperson of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; and vice president of the Institute of Directors South Africa; and a former Member of the Dean’s Council Harvard Kennedy School, Boston; and a member of the World Economic Forum Task Force.
He was also chairperson and founder of Afrika Tikkun, Smile Organisation and the Field Band Foundation; and a recipient of numerous awards, including the President’s Order of Meritorious Service.
Described by the late Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris as a man who had ‘an infectious commitment to the new South Africa’, Lubner used his significant influence within the private sector to play a meaningful role in the transformation and reconciliation of this nation.
He believed that if reconciliation was really to work, the affluent sector of society would ‘have to change its priorities radically’.
Afrika Tikkun was formed to spearhead this meaningful transformation.
Tikkun is a Hebrew word meaning, a setting to rights, transformation.
At its heart, Afrika Tikkun empowered individuals who had been disempowered to become skilled, educated, and productive – to be masters of their own fate.
The accomplishments of Afrika Tikkun from early on were of great inspiration to the late former President Nelson Mandela who described its founding and work as a ‘miracle’. “I never expected organisations of this nature to bring so much hope to the disadvantaged as Afrika Tikkun has done,” Mandela said at one time.
Today that work continues at the helm of one of Bertie’s sons, Marc Lubner, CEO of Afrika Tikkun.
