URI ORBACH, RIP

Government minister Uri Orbach has died from a rare blood disease, much too young:

Israeli Senior Citizens Minister Uri Orbach (Habayit Hayehudi), 54, died Monday at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he had been hospitalized for more than a month.

Orbach had suffered from a serious blood disorder for years and was hospitalized in January after his condition took a turn for the worse. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Uri won the hearts of everyone with his charm and wisdom. He was incredibly sensitive to people, a sensitivity he brought with him to the Senior Citizens Ministry, and to anything he took interest in.”

He wrote several children's books and once edited a magazine for them, and was a very admirable man in the time he'd worked. It's a shame he had to succumb to illness too young in his life.