Holocaust Survivor Jack Mikulincer Dies After Being Struck By Car At 85

A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, Jack Mikulincer, was fatally hit by a BMW in Brooklyn on Shabbat last Saturday.

On his way to Manhattan Beach Jewish Center, Mikulincer collided with a BMW X5 SUV as he crossed Coleridge St. at Oriental Blvd. at around 4:45 p.m.

In the accident, he was accompanied by Jehuda Lindenblatt, 85, a fellow Holocaust survivor. The two men were friends for over 50 years and attended shul regularly together on Friday nights and Shabbat days.

“I was next to him when it happened,” Lindenblatt told The Daily News. “I heard a bang and I see him fly and then he landed.”

Mikulincer was rushed to Coney Island Hospital, but couldn’t be saved as he died instantly.

“All his life he worried, ‘When I die I shouldn’t have pain’,” Lindenblatt recalled of his friend. “And you see a friend dying in front of you. It’s unbelievable.”

The driver of the BMW, 52, stayed on the scene and has not been charged yet as authorities continue investigating.

“The guy probably didn’t see him,” Lindenblatt said.“He died instantly. The doctor told me at the hospital in Coney Island he didn’t have pain.”

Mikulincer’s daughter, Aviva, got a call from her sister shortly after the accident happened.

“My sister called me during Sabbath, and when you get that call you know it’s very bad news,” said Aviva. “She said that my father had been hit by a car and that he was on life support and she didn’t know anything.”

Aviva came from East Orange, New Jersey, to see her father in Coney Island. But he had already passed away when she arrived.

Mikulincer used to own a bakery in Brighton Beach, which he had called the Aviva Bakery. He eventually had to give up the business when his late wife suffered a car crash 30 years ago. Mikulincer’s wife was on her way to a Chanukah party in Queens when a car in which she was a passenger was crashed by another car. After that accident, Mikulincer devoted his time in taking care of his wife until 2011, when she passed away.