Funeral for Slain Birmingham Teacher Harry Berkowitz Monday

Former West Maple Elementary School teacher Harry Berkowitz will be laid to rest Monday during an afternoon service followed by burial in Birmingham.

Friends, family and former coworkers will gather at 3 p.m. for a memorial at Hebrew Memorial Chapel in Oak Park. Rabbi Steven Rubenstein will officiate. Burial will follow at Clover Hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham.

Police said Berkowitz, 72, was murdered at his home on Charles Lane in Franklin last Tuesday by roommate Thomas Ian Matthews. The 33-year-old ended his own life during a standoff with police in a Royal Oak home later that day. The death remains under investigation. 

According to Berkowitz's funeral listing on the chapel's website, the former teacher is survived by sister Gloria Novak of California. Berkowitz, who was unmarried and without children, did not have immediate family in the area, and authorities sought the public's help in trying to identify and locate relatives late last week. Franklin-Bingham Farms Police Cheif Daniel Roberts said authorities investigating Berkowitz's death heard about a relative, possibly a sister, in California, but that she and Berkowitz were estranged. 

She learned of his death through a family friend in Michigan, she told the Oakland Press, and contacted authorities.

Berkowitz worked in the Birmingham Public Schools for roughly 47 years, the last 18 of which at West Maple. School officials will end classes early today so former colleagues can attend the funeral service.

Family indicated that memorials may be made to a charity of one's choice in Berkowitz's name.