Joe van den Bergh

Joe van den Bergh passed away in Holland on 25th April at the age of 77. He lived for almost 50 years in Zimbabwe where he served as chairman of the Harare Hebrew Congregation for four years and as President of the Harare Chamber of Industries, also for four years. In these two positions he followed in the tradition of the van den Bergh of serving both the Jewish and wider communities, and indeed that of his father Hans who had been President and Treasurer of the Harare Sephardi Congregation as well as President of the Chamber of Industries. His mother, Mirjam had also been active in the Sephardi Ladies Guild.

Joe was born in Rotherham, England in 1947 to Hans and Mirjam. His father had opened a carpet factory before the Second World War. Two years later, the family moved to what was then Umtali, Rhodesia where they established a jute mill. In 1953 the family moved to Salisbury and opened the Central African Weaving Mills which became Nimfa Mills in latter years. Joe spent fifty years living in Rhodesia, which then became Zimbabwe, and worked in several fields including in the family business, jewellery and pharmaceuticals, and eventually established his own business.
Joe married Arine Coster in 1983 in Holland and brought his young bride to Zimbabwe where their first-born Jeremy was born followed by Ronny who was born in Holland. In 1997 Joe and his family moved to London where Joe established another pharmaceutical business. In 2010 he retired to Holland, where he continued to be active in the Harlem Jewish community as well as becoming a member of the European Jewish Parliament.

Despite confronting health challenges in his first two years of life, Joe led a normal life which included taking an interest in theatre and became a member of the Salisbury Repertory Theatre and featured in several theatre productions, and won a TV talent contest. He was a great raconteur and enjoyed the company of many friends from different backgrounds which stayed with him through his moves to different countries.

Joe was proud of his Jewish and Dutch heritage and both sides of the family, the van den Berghs and the Rodrigues Pereiras can trace their Dutch roots back to the 16th and 17th Centuries. Joe’s maternal grandfather had been Haham, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Holland the first Jewish military chaplain of the Dutch Armed Forces. And the van den Bergh family had been prominent both in the Jewish and wider communities in Holland.

Joe is mourned by his wife, Arine, his two sons Jeremy and Ronny and three grandchildren, Raphael, Eitan and Emelia (and another grandchild due in June), and his brother Rabbi Dr Martin. Henriette, his sister passed away over 30 years ago in South Africa.