Highland Park shooting victim touched countless lives with her work at synagogue: ‘Every life cycle event, you shared with Jacki’

Recent foot surgery kept Ros Lotzof away from the Highland Park Fourth of July parade this year, but her son, daughter-in-law and their three young children were all riding a float in the procession when the gunshots rang out.

Lotzof’s family members were able to flee to safety, but she soon learned that a cherished resident of her Highland Park neighborhood, Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, was not.

“She was a wonderful, sweet lady … caring wife,” Lotof said. “I can’t say enough about her. She was the kindest, sweetest person — always welcoming. She loved to rescue dogs. That’s the kind of person she was. Always a smile on her face, always caring for things.”

Sundheim, 63, was among the seven people killed when a gunman opened fired at Monday’s parade. Dozens more were injured and a suspect has been charged with murder.

Sundheim was a longtime employee and lifelong member of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, where she taught preschool and helped coordinate events like bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings.

Lotzof said when another neighbor called to tell her Sundheim was killed in the shooting, Lotzof broke down.

“It always happens to the good people,” she said. “She was a real stand-up lady. It’s just so sad. I don’t care who you are. If you’ve got no money or you’re rich, we’re all the same. I don’t understand why there’s so much hate and horrible things going on in this world.”

The nature of Sundheim’s work meant that she touched many lives, fellow congregant Lauren Absler said.

”Every life cycle event, you shared with Jacki. Whether it was a baby naming or a bat mitzvah or a wedding, you planned that with her,” Absler said. “We cannot remember a time when we walked into the sanctuary and she wasn’t standing at the door to greet people.”

Absler called Sundheim’s killing “just such an incredible loss for the synagogue community, for Highland Park, for the world. She always had a smile on her face and a hug for everybody.”

Sundheim taught one of Absler’s sons in preschool; another son is preparing for his bar mitzvah “and that would have been with her,” Absler said.

Sundheim’s survivors include her husband Bruce and their daughter Leah, according to an email shared by the synagogue with congregants.

Her “work, kindness and warmth touched us all,” congregation leaders wrote in an online statement, adding she guided “innumerable among us through life’s moments of joy and sorrow, all of this with tireless dedication.”

“There are no words sufficient to express our grief for Jacki’s death and sympathy for her family and loved ones,” synagogue officials wrote.

A separate message from leaders on the congregation’s website said in part: “We are horrified by the sickening and senseless shooting today at the Highland Park July 4th Parade. ... We join with all people of good will in our heartbreak that such senseless violence and loss of innocent human life have once again wreaked havoc, this time in the midst of our own community, neighborhood, congregation and home. This touches each of us deeply and personally; the grief, pain, and fear affect us all.”

Photographer Phil Goldman said he attended high school with Sundheim at Niles North in Skokie in the early 1970s and would see her at the Glencoe synagogue when he was commissioned to photograph bar or bat mitzvahs there.

“Jacki ran a tight ship over there; it was her responsibility to keep things going. She treated every event as though it was her event,” Goldman said. “That was the kind of person she was.”

Goldman himself was at the parade Monday. He was never in harm’s way but said his 6-year-old granddaughter was in the staging area when the gunfire began; she made it to safety.

In the aftermath, Goldman realized just how small his community is. When he heard the name of the alleged gunman Monday night, he realized he’d photographed the wedding reception of the parents of suspect Bobby Crimo more than 20 years ago.

And then Goldman heard the name of one of the victims — his friend Jacki Sundheim.

“We always had this kind of nice friendly banter going, even as she kept things moving and rolling,” he said. “She was always so cordial, kind and sweet. She’d always ask after my family, the kids, the grandkids. I would describe her as being very upbeat. She was a genuinely happy person, you could tell. She was friendly but she was also incredibly professional.”