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Rush bassist and frontman Geddy Lee is mourning the death of his mother, Mary Weinrib, who passed away on Friday, July 2, weeks before her 96th birthday.
Born in 1925, Mary grew up in Warsaw, Poland, and came of age during the Holocaust. As a teenager and young adult, she survived internment at Nazi concentration camps, Starachowice, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
After being liberated in 1945, Mary and Morris Weinrib married and moved to Canada, where they raised their family. Morris passed away suddenly in 1965, but Mary lived to see their three children grow and have success.
Geddy, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Rush in 2013, was close with his mother, whose life story was a constant source of motivation and inspiration throughout his own life and career.
"Some parents don't like to re-live the past," Geddy told Q104.3 New York in 2019 for Holocaust Remembrance Day. "I'm thankful my mother wasn't afraid to do that because I grew up with a better perspective on things."
Mary's funeral was held July 4 at Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park in Toronto. In lieu of flowers, Mary's family is asking for donations in her honor to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.
Rush fans got to know Mary as a fixture at the band's concerts in Toronto and through her appearance in the band's 2010 documentary, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage. She also appeared in Virginia and Dave Grohl's new Paramount+ docu-series, From Cradle to Stage, and was interviewed for the 2017 book of the same name.
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