Bernie Lovitky, 85, was loved, honored for his work in Tonga

Bernie Lovitky was relentless in solving any problem, whether bolstering the economy of a South Pacific island or tackling controversial social issues.

“Tikkun olam,” the Jewish phrase meaning “repair the world,” was his personal motto, his daughter-in-law Pam Lipsky of Marietta said. That dictum compelled him to join the Peace Corps at 58, to manage the Temple Zaban Night Shelter for seven years and to organize an interfaith lecture series at the Marcus Jewish Community Center.

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Bernie Lovitky was a member of the Peace Corps and for seven years managed the Temple Zaban Night Shelter.

He infused every commitment with his joy, said Stephen Dorage of Decatur, who met Mr. Lovitky through the Peace Corps. “He was just a ball of energy and a gracious man,” he said. “He would dance and sing whenever he felt like it. He still had his youth with him.”

Mr. Lovitky, 85, of Atlanta and formerly of Smyrna, died of congestive heart failure Monday at the William Breman Jewish Home. The funeral is

10:30 a.m. today at The Temple. Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care is in charge of arrangements.

He retired at 51 from running the discount store chain he founded in Michigan. After his wife of 31 years, Lorraine Lovitky, died, he joined the Peace Corps.

The foundering wholesale grocery cooperative he advised in Tonga increased its gross from $22,000 annually to $2.2 million, and the Tongans loved him for it.

They named children, dogs, pigs and goats Bernie in his honor, according to a 1984 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.

The Peace Corps placed Mr. Lovitky in its Atlanta office as a recruiter in the early 1980s, and he was highly successful in recruiting older, skilled volunteers, Mr. Dorage said.

During the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Mr. Lovitky was honored to be an attache to the Kingdom of Tonga delegation, Mrs. Lipsky said.

He married Bunny Lovitky 22 years ago. He sang “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” to her every day, played gin with her every night and wherever there was music danced like a 5-foot-2-inch dynamo.

“We’ve been dancing with them, and they exhausted us,” his daughter-in-law said.

With his wife, he directed The Temple’s shelter and checked in nightly because he felt consistency was important. He insisted on everyone being treated with respect and in residents regaining pride, Mrs. Lovitky said.

He created a shelter with private rooms for couples, provided condoms in the bathrooms and searched government surplus catalogs to find affordable brassieres for oversized women in the shelter, his wife said. He instituted job training programs, complete with practice interviews and appropriate business wardrobes.

“Back in the 1980s, the homeless could not open bank accounts,” Mr. Dorage said. “Bernie finally came up with a solution to use credit unions and the shelter’s address.”

At the Marcus center, Mr. Lovitky arranged speakers to address social issues and encouraged people of all faiths to participate.

“Any controversy, he would go at it,” Mr. Dorage said. “He thought that out of great differences can come great strength. He said these are issues important to our community and we have to figure out solutions.”

While under hospice care, Mr. Lovitky talked about his life to a group of summer school students and mesmerized them, Mr. Dorage said. On their own initiative, the students wrote essays on what they could do with their own lives and presented them to Mr. Lovitky.

“Malo a ta lava,” Mr. Lovitky said in a 1984 AJC article. “It means, ‘Thank God for giving me another day.’ “

Survivors include a son, Jeffrey Lovitky of Washington; a daughter, Debbie Sheiman of Fairfield, Conn.; a stepdaughter, Ellen Domnitch of Great Neck, N.Y.; three stepsons, Lanny Lipsky, Terry Lipsky and Hal Lipsky, all of Marietta; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.